Witnesses begin giving evidence in trial of Rajwinder Singh, accused of murdering Toyah Cordingley in Far North Queensland

Warning: This story contains descriptions some may find distressing.

Toyah Cordingley’s then-boyfriend has been cross-examined about his recollection of the day she disappeared, as a trial into her alleged murder continues in Far North Queensland.

Marco Heidenreich told the court on Tuesday he had been hiking on the afternoon of the 24-year-old’s disappearance. 

Her body was later found buried in a shallow, sandy grave at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, with multiple stab wounds and deep cuts.

Former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh, 41, is standing trial over her October 2018 death.

Former nurse Rajwinder Singh is accused of the 2018 murder of Toyah Cordingley. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)

Prosecutors allege Mr Singh murdered Ms Cordingley at the beach and took her phone from the scene, before leaving the country — and his family — for his native India.

In his opening address to the jury, defence barrister Greg McGuire described the frenzied killing as one that had to be carried out “either out of extreme anger by a crazy person or by someone affected by drugs”.

“She was still alive when her throat was cut; the arteries from her neck would’ve been spurting blood,” Mr McGuire told the Supreme Court in Cairns on Tuesday.

Toyah Cordingley volunteered at an animal shelter. (Supplied: QPS)

A ‘placid, caring’ man

Mr McGuire said there was no suggestion of a sexual assault, with Ms Cordingley still wearing her bikini, the top of which had been stabbed through.

“You will hear [Mr Singh] described as a quietly spoken, placid, caring man,” Mr McGuire said.

“He was never known to carry a knife, not even a pocket knife.

“The defence case is quite simple — he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Rajwinder Singh appeared emotional while listening to his barrister’s opening address. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)

Mr Singh rubbed his eyes and dabbed his face with a tissue in the dock as Mr McGuire read excerpts of a recorded conversation he had with an undercover police officer in the Cairns watch house cell in 2023 after his extradition.

“It happened in front of me; I ran for my life,” Mr Singh is alleged to have told the officer.

“They were going to kill me as well. That was my biggest mistake — running away.”

Mr Singh told the officer he did not know “the person who died”, the court heard, and that the killers “had their faces covered”.

“I’ve surrendered myself to God, now it’s up to him,” Mr McGuire quoted Mr Singh as saying.

Toyah Cordingley was found dead at Wangetti Beach in October 2018.  (ABC News)

Jury told of pig hunters

Earlier in the trial, Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane outlined how police had connected Mr Singh to the crime scene using mobile phone tower data, DNA profiles taken from sticks at the burial site, and the movements of a distinctive blue car.

Trial begins into alleged murder of Toyah Cordingley

Toyah Cordingley was “doing something that she would always do”, exercising along a secluded Far North Queensland beach when she was violently killed seven years ago, a court in Cairns has been told.

Mr Singh is alleged to have arrived at Wangetti Beach about 20 minutes before Ms Cordingley did that afternoon.

Mr Singh’s phone did not connect to any cell towers for about seven hours that day but road cameras showed he did not take the most direct route home to Innisfail that evening, the court heard.

The prosecution alleges he travelled near “bodies of water”, giving him an opportunity to dispose of Ms Cordingley’s possessions.

However, Mr McGuire questioned whether the Crown’s scenario “was the only rational inference” about who could be the killer.

Defence lawyers Nick Dore, Kate Juhasz and Greg McGuire arrive at the Supreme Court in Cairns for the first day of the trial. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)

Mr McGuire told the jury they would hear about “a number of men who were frequenting the Wangetti Beach area armed with large knives, either for pig hunting or protection”.

One of those men was a Machans Beach tiler Evan McCrea, who just days before had texted his wife that he needed to “go pigging to kill something”.

Mr Crane told the jury they would hear evidence about Mr McCrea’s whereabouts that day, including from his mother. 

Prosecutors arrive at the Supreme Court in Cairns for the first day of the trial. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)

Boyfriend gives evidence

Mr Heidenreich, Ms Cordingley’s boyfriend at the time, was one of the first witnesses to enter the box, telling the court on Tuesday he became aware he was a “person of interest” soon after her body was found on the morning of October 22.

He told the court he had been on a hike with his best friend Joel Cuman at Spring Creek Falls, near Port Douglas, on the afternoon of Ms Cordingley’s disappearance.

He said the hike soured when his dog Jersey “just vanished” in the scrub, and attempts to find him using borrowed torches were unsuccessful.

Mr Heidenreich tried calling Ms Cordingley to let her know what had happened, but said his calls did not go through.

The trial has concluded its second day. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)

He told the court he then spotted Ms Cordingley’s car parked at Wangetti on his way home and searched part of the beach in the dark before calling the police and his friends.

When day broke, Ms Cordingley’s mother Vanessa Gardiner found her daughter’s dog Indie in the scrub, but needed Ms Cordingley’s father Troy to help to untie the Husky-Tibetan mastiff cross’s lead from a tree.

“She was tied up so tight that she couldn’t even sit down,” Ms Gardiner told the court.

Ms Cordingley’s boyfriend Marco Heidenreich gave evidence on Tuesday.  (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)

Mr Heidenreich said he returned to the beach at about 7am, where the court heard Mr Cordingley questioned him about whether he was involved in her disappearance, saying: “Don’t f— around, yes or no? I’m upset and I have to ask”.

“You said, ‘no, this isn’t my fault’,” Mr McGuire put to Mr Heidenreich.

“Yes,” Mr Heidenreich  replied.

Multiple calls, a missed text

Mr McGuire cross-examined Mr Heidenreich about his relationship with Ms Cordingley, who he said had recently begun a friendship with her podiatrist Tyson Franklin.

Marco Heidenreich and Toyah Cordingley were in a relationship at the time of her death (Supplied: Facebook)

Ms Cordingley had exchanged hundreds of texts with Mr Franklin and was due to pick him up from the airport the night she disappeared.

She sent Mr Heidenreich a text message at 3:17pm letting him know, the court heard.

However, Mr Heidenreich gave evidence that he did not know who Mr Franklin was and did not see the text until he was looking for Ms Cordingley at the beach that night.

Under cross-examination, Mr Heidenreich accepted it was possible he had tried to call Ms Cordingley 17 times over three hours on the night she went missing.

“You never looked to see if she had sent you a text?” Mr McGuire asked.

“No,” Mr Heidenreich replied.

“How could that be?”

“I don’t know.”

Mr Heidenreich told the court he did not remember “a lot of that time”.

“It was very traumatic,” he said.

Marco Heidenreich was cross-examined on Tuesday. He was Ms Cordingley’s boyfriend at the time of her death. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)

The court heard Mr Heidenreich had expressed concern to police about how he would pay rent without financial help from Ms Cordingley.

“How does it work with the government? Do I get any help from them?” the court heard Mr Heidenreich asked.

“It’s f–ed. She does so much for me.”

Ms Cordingley’s father has begun giving evidence and will continue his testimony when the trial, before Justice Lincoln Crowley, resumes on Wednesday.

Troy Cordingley began giving evidence in court on Tuesday. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)