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A man convicted of murdering his wife after she told him she was leaving him was today granted a new trial by the the Supreme Court.
Laxman Rajamani, a 35-year-old accountant, killed Chitralekha Ramakrishnan on or about January 13, 2005, and was found guilty by a jury after a two-week trial in February last year.
Rajamani was jailed for life, with a non parole period of 12 years, by the High Court at Auckland in March.
The Hindu couple emigrated to New Zealand from India in July 2003.
Rajamani had argued he was provoked into a rage, after his wife told him she wanted a divorce and was leaving him for a Pakistani colleague.
The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against conviction, but the Supreme Court today overturned that decision.
Rajamani had appealed on the grounds there was a miscarriage of justice when the judge proceeded with the trial to verdict with only 10 jurors, and that the judge had failed to properly sum up to the jury on the defence of provocation.
The Supreme Court agreed that completing the trial with only 10 jurors had been a miscarriage of justice.
The court also found the judge had misdirected the jury in his summing up.
It set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.
- NZPA
