A former nurse has been found guilty of the 2018 murder of Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley, whose body was found buried on a secluded Far North Queensland beach.<\/p>\n
A jury found Rajwinder Singh, 41, stabbed Ms Cordingley and cut her throat on Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, before fleeing to India where he spent four years in hiding.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rajwinder Singh was extradited from India over his involvement in the death of Toyah Cordingley. (AAP: Brian Casey)<\/p>\n
Ms Cordingley, a 24-year-old animal shelter volunteer, had gone to the beach on the afternoon of October 21, 2018 to walk her dog Indie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her father Troy found her body the next morning after hours of searching, while Indie was found alive, tied tightly to a tree nearby.<\/p>\n
It took a jury about seven hours to reach a unanimous verdict at the end of a four-week retrial in the Supreme Court in Cairns, eight months after Singh’s first trial ended in a hung jury<\/a>.<\/p>\n There was an outpouring of emotion from the public gallery as the jury speaker read out the verdict.<\/p>\n Ms Cordingley’s father could be heard saying “rot in hell, you bastard”. Singh sat motionless in the dock.<\/p>\n The Case Of Toyah’s Murder<\/a><\/p>\n Listen back to how Rajwinder Singh’s trial unfolded and all the key moments from the courtroom with the ABC’s podcast, The Case Of Toyah’s Murder.<\/p>\n Ms Cordingley’s death seven years ago led to an outpouring of grief in Far North Queensland<\/a>, where hundreds marched against violence towards women.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many cars also displayed bumper stickers emblazoned with Toyah’s name, calling for justice.<\/p>\n A retrial began on November 10, with more than 80 witnesses called to give evidence over three weeks.<\/p>\n The court was adjourned to Tuesday morning for sentencing submissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Singh’s car matched Ms Cordingley’s phone<\/p>\n Police identified Singh as a person of interest about three weeks into the murder investigation, after realising the movements of his blue Alfa Romeo matched those of Ms Cordingley’s phone away from the beach.<\/p>\n The morning after her death, Singh booked a one-way flight to New Delhi, telling a travel agent his grandfather was very sick.<\/p>\n Police investigating the murder of Toyah Cordingley identified Rajwinder Singh through the movements of his blue Alfa Romeo. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)<\/p>\n Singh told his wife Sukhdeep Kaur he was going out for a couple of days, but it would be more than four years until any of his family heard from him again.<\/p>\n His family, including his parents and three young children, were financially dependent on him.<\/p>\n They lost their home.<\/p>\n Rajwinder Singh’s wife Sukhdeep Kaur gave evidence during the trial. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)<\/p>\n Long wait for outcome<\/p>\n Singh was arrested at a Sikh gurdwara in New Delhi in November 2022, about three weeks after Queensland police posted a $1 million reward for information on his whereabouts.<\/p>\n He did not contest extradition and returned to Australia in early 2023.<\/p>\n Rajwinder Singh was arrested in 2022. (Supplied: Delhi Police)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n