Alleged killer Dinush Kurera’s son gives evidence in murder trial

A teenager has recounted to a jury the moment his enraged father allegedly attacked his mother with a hatchet in front of he and his sister.

Dinush Kurera is accused of murdering his estranged wife Nelomie Perera.

A teenager has recounted to a jury the moment his enraged father allegedly attacked his mother with a hatchet before he turned the axe on him.

Prosecutors allege Dinush Kurera, 47, murdered his estranged wife Nelomie Perera, 43, in a “sustained, brutal and vicious attack” which took place in front of their children after he broke into their Sandhurst home in Melbourne’s southeast.

He allegedly killed the mother-of-three after she told him she wanted to end their marriage and sell their home because he had been cheating on her.

Dinush Kurera is standing trial for the murder of his ex-partner, Nelomie Perera, who was found dead in her Sandhurst home in December 2022.

Now in the second week of Mr Kurera’s Supreme Court trial, the couple’s 19-year-old son gave evidence via video link from a remote witness facility on Thursday, where he told the jury he was upstairs when he heard his mother’s screams about 11pm on December 3, 2022.

He and his sister ran downstairs, where he said he saw his father wearing dark-coloured clothing and raising an axe above his shoulder near a rear sliding door, while his mother moaned in pain from behind a table.

“Dinush told (my sister) and I if we tried to run and leave that he would kill all three of us and himself and that he had poured gasoline around the house and would set it on fire,” he said.

The teenager, who the Herald Sun has chosen not to name, said his bleeding mother pleaded for an ambulance but his father demanded to see her phone.

He said he threw his mother’s phone into a couch before the family moved into the living room.

Nelomie Perera was allegedly murdered in her Sandhurst home in front of her children.

While they were seated on the couch, the boy said his father asked him if his mother had been seeing other people, which he confirmed she had.

He said his mother told Mr Kurera “you call me a hoe, so I decided to be one” before he swung the axe towards her, stopping just short of hitting her.

The teenager said his mother then brought up her husband’s cheating, as he and his sister pleaded with their parents to calm down.

“Once she had said that though, Dinush got up in a rage and had this aggressiveness I’d never seen from him before,” he said.

“(My sister) got up as well … and tried to stop Dinush, but Dinush had swung his axe into mum three times in the span of five seconds.

“She was still seated in the recliner, but she looked more lifeless each time he swung and she just took it.”

Dinush Kurera is facing trial over the murder of estranged wife Nelomie Perera at the Supreme Court of Victoria. Picture: David Crosling

The boy tried to escape via a sliding door before his father gave chase and hit him in the head with the axe, he said.

He told the jury he was forced to defend himself with an outdoor chair before he was struck again in the knee.

“I didn’t see who it was, but someone had dragged Dinush off of me which gave me time to run down the side of the house, onto the street ... and scream for help,” he said.

The boy took long pauses between answers and asked for a break during his evidence.

Wearing a black suit and glasses, Mr Kurera silently watched on from the dock while his son spoke.

Mr Kurera denies murdering his wife of 17 years, claiming he killed her in self-defence after she attacked him with a knife.

His son’s evidence will continue on Thursday afternoon.