A Brutal Killing That Shocked Queensland
Toyah Cordingley, a 24-year-old health store worker and animal shelter volunteer, was out for a Sunday afternoon walk with her dog on Wangetti Beach in October 2018 when she was attacked. She was stabbed at least 26 times. Her body was discovered half-buried in sand dunes between Cairns and Port Douglas by her father, triggering grief and outrage across Queensland. During the trial, the court heard she was “repeatedly” stabbed and left in a shallow sandy grave with “little or no hope of surviving”.
Suspect Fled to India Overnight, Leaving Family Behind
Rajwinder Singh, 41, originally from Punjab and living in Innisfail, fled Australia the very next morning. Police identified him as a person of interest about three weeks into the investigation after learning that the movements of his blue Alfa Romeo matched those of Ms Cordingley’s phone away from the beach. On the morning after her death, Singh booked a one-way flight to New Delhi, telling a travel agent his grandfather was very sick. Before leaving, he told his wife Sukhdeep Kaur that he was going out “for a couple of days,” but he did not contact his family again for more than four years. His parents and three young children, who were financially dependent on him, eventually lost their home. Singh was extradited to Australia and charged with murder in March 2023.
DNA Evidence, Phone Movements Lead to Guilty Verdict
Prosecutors argued that Singh’s abrupt departure was a sign of guilt. Though circumstantial, they said the evidence “pointed to Singh and eliminated others”. A key piece of forensic evidence was DNA found on a stick at the crime scene, which experts said was “3.8 billion times more likely” to have come from Singh than anyone else. Investigators also testified that Cordingley’s phone movements aligned with the path of Singh’s car immediately after the attack.
After a month-long retrial, the first in March ended in a hung jury, a Cairns Supreme Court jury returned a guilty verdict on Monday. The decision prompted cheers and tears from people gathered in the courtroom. Singh will return to court for sentencing on Tuesday, moving the long-running case closer to closure for Cordingley’s family and the community that has mourned her for seven years.
