Toyah Cordingley was “doing something that she would always do” – exercising along a secluded Far North Queensland beach with her dog – when she was violently killed seven years ago, a court has been told.
The 24-year-old’s father, Troy Cordingley, found her body buried in a shallow, sandy grave while searching for her on Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns.
Former nurse Rajwinder Singh, 41, is standing trial at the Supreme Court in Cairns, having pleaded not guilty to her murder.
Rajwinder Singh is standing trial at the Supreme Court in Cairns. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)
In his opening address to the jury, Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane said Ms Cordingley was “a young woman, blonde and attractive” who went to the beach on October 21, 2018, with her dog, Indie.
There, Mr Crane said, Ms Cordingley and Mr Singh had a “confrontation”, although exactly what sparked it “just can’t be known”.
The court heard Ms Cordingley’s body was found “peppered” with stab wounds, defensive injuries and fatal cuts to the throat that severed her windpipe.
Toyah Cordingley was found dead at Wangetti Beach in October 2018. (ABC News)
Indie was found nearby, tied tightly to a tree in the scrub about 30 metres inland.
All Ms Cordingley’s possessions were gone, Mr Crane said, except for a selfie stick.
Crown Prosecutor Nathan Crane addressed the jury on Monday. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)
Mr Crane said even a small knife would have been capable of causing Ms Cordingley’s injuries, but police never recovered any weapon.
“We simply don’t have it, and they didn’t find it,” he said.
Accused left the country
The Crown will point to DNA evidence and the movements of Mr Singh’s blue car in linking him to the crime scene, the court heard.
An Indian migrant, Mr Singh lived in Innisfail, south of Cairns, with his parents, wife and three young children.
He abruptly left Australia after the weekend of Ms Cordingley’s death, cutting all contact with his family.
“As the police were finding Toyah’s body, he was organising what the Crown says was a hurried one-way ticket back to India,” Mr Crane said.
Ms Cordingley’s phone was never found. However, it was detected moving away from the beach in the late afternoon, shortly after prosecutors allege she was killed.
“Her phone leaves and she doesn’t, and the Crown uses that information in this trial to say that the killer took her phone,” Mr Crane said.
Toyah Cordingley’s mobile phone was never found, the court was told. (Supplied: QPS)
Mr Crane said a DNA sample taken from a stick at Ms Cordingley’s grave was 3.7 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The court heard he was also 2,500 times more likely to have contributed to a partial DNA profile obtained from three logs at the base of the grave.
Mr Crane said the jury would hear about how the police had eliminated other suspects during “a very lengthy investigation”.
“This is a circumstantial case — classically so,” Mr Crane said.
“There is no direct evidence about what happened to Toyah Cordingley because there is no eyewitness who saw what happened to her.”
Loading…Jury to visit beach
Earlier on Monday, Justice Lincoln Crowley told the jury that to find Mr Singh guilty, they would need to be satisfied the combination of circumstantial evidence supported the inference he was guilty and excluded the possibility someone else was the killer.
The jury of 10 men and two women, along with three female reserve jurors, was also shown a list of more than 470 potential witnesses, ahead of what is expected to be a three-week trial.
Justice Crowley told the jury it was “vitally important” they considered whether any knowledge or feelings they may have about the high-profile case would affect their ability to act impartially.
“I am aware that this case has attracted a great deal of publicity in the past and many in the community have strong feelings about this matter,” Justice Crowley said.
Jurors were told they would be taken for a half-day viewing of Wangetti Beach, where the murder allegedly took place, which would involve a four-kilometre walk.
Mr Crane will continue his opening address when the trial resumes on Tuesday, before defence barrister Greg McGuire addresses the jury.