Man fails to have murder conviction downgraded

An man who slit his wife's throat has failed in his bid to have his murder conviction downgraded to manslaughter.

Former accountant Laxman Rajamani, was found guilty in June last year of murdering Chitralekha Ramakrishnan in the kitchen of their Auckland home in January 2005.

Rajamani, an Indian national, was initially found guilty of murder in 2006, but the conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2007 and a retrial ordered.

In April, Rajamani's lawyer Paul Dacre told the Court of Appeal in Wellington that his client was provoked and he had not planned the attack.

However, Crown prosecutor Dale Lahood said Rajamani had twice threatened to kill his wife, once saying he would use a knife to do it.

Rajamani appealed against the use of statements allegedly made by his wife before her death.

He also said the judge failed to sum up properly on the defence of provocation.

The court dismissed both issues.

"It was no part of the Crown case that the killing had been planned and premeditated," they said.

Rajamani is serving life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years.

- NZPA