Rajwinder Singh has been found guilty of murdering Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley, whose body was discovered buried on a secluded Far North Queensland beach in 2018.
As per ABC, a Supreme Court jury in Cairns on Monday unanimously ruled that Singh, 41, fatally stabbed the 24-year-old animal shelter volunteer and cut her throat at Wangetti Beach before fleeing to India the following morning. He spent more than four years on the run before his arrest in 2022.
It is reported that Cordingley had gone to the beach on 21 October 2018 to walk her dog Indie. When she failed to return home, her father Troy searched through the night and found her body the next morning. Indie was found alive, tied tightly to a tree nearby.
It took the jury about seven hours to reach its verdict at the end of a four-week retrial — eight months after Singh’s first trial ended in a hung jury.
It is reported by the ABC that as the verdict was read, emotions surged through the public gallery. “Rot in hell, you bastard,” Cordingley’s father was heard saying, while Singh sat motionless in the dock.
Cordingley’s death triggered an outpouring of grief across Far North Queensland, where hundreds marched against violence towards women and vehicles displayed bumper stickers calling for justice.
The latest retrial commenced on 10 November and heard evidence from more than 80 witnesses over three weeks.
Police identified Singh as a suspect within three weeks of the murder after matching the movements of his blue Alfa Romeo to the path of Cordingley’s phone.
It is reported that the morning after her death, Singh booked a one-way flight to New Delhi, claiming his grandfather was gravely ill. He told his wife he would be away only a few days, but he did not contact his family for more than four years, during which they lost their home.
Singh was arrested at a Sikh gurdwara in New Delhi in November 2022, less than a month after Queensland police announced a $1 million reward for information on his whereabouts. He did not contest extradition and returned to Australia in early 2023.
His initial trial, scheduled for 2024, was delayed after defence lawyers raised concerns about a large volume of late-disclosed material. A subsequent trial in February–March 2025 ended without a verdict after three days of jury deliberations.
The newly concluded retrial also faced disruption when a juror was dismissed midway through proceedings, ABC reported.
A note from another juror alleged the man had shown “clear bias” against police evidence, claimed he had “heard all he needs”, admitted to a personal history of violence and behaved disrespectfully towards another juror.
Defence counsel Greg McGuire KC argued the entire jury should be discharged due to possible prejudice, but Justice Crowley allowed the trial to continue after the remaining jurors assured the court they could remain impartial. By then, 62 witnesses had already given evidence.
It is further reported that a non-publication order prevented any reporting of the juror’s dismissal until after the verdict.
The court will return on Tuesday for sentencing submissions, marking the next step in finalising the long-running case.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
