{"id":335547,"date":"2025-12-08T19:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335547\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T19:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:38:12","slug":"former-nurse-rajwinder-singh-found-guilty-of-murdering-toyah-cordingley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/335547\/","title":{"rendered":"Former nurse Rajwinder Singh found guilty of murdering Toyah Cordingley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven years after Toyah Cordingley’s body was discovered on an isolated beach, former nurse Rajwinder Singh has been found guilty of her murder.<\/p>\n

Singh, 41, repeatedly stabbed Cordingley and slashed her throat at a Far North Queensland beach in 2018 before fleeing to India, spending years in hiding.<\/p>\n

Cordingley, 24, was discovered by her father half-buried in sand dunes at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, a day after she failed to return from walking her dog.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Toyah Cordingley (Nine)\"\"\/Toyah’s mother Vanessa Gardiner said her family would “never forget” her daughter – or forgive Singh. (Nine)<\/p>\n

The beloved dog – named Indie – was found alive nearby tied tightly to a tree.<\/p>\n

Years passed as Cordingley’s grieving family waited for answers.<\/p>\n

After a record $1 million reward and two trials, it finally came when a jury delivered a unanimous verdict at Cairns’ Supreme Court late on Monday.<\/p>\n

“This event turned our world upside down for years, and we all know a special part of our fun, tight-knit family is now gone forever,” Cordingley’s mother Vanessa Gardiner told reporters outside court.<\/p>\n

“We are different people now because of this tragedy.<\/p>\n

“Some days it is still hard to believe she is no longer here physically with us and the horrendous way she was taken from us.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Rajwinder Singh boarded a flight to India, the country of his birth, leaving behind his wife and three children. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Gardiner said her family would “never forget” Cordingley – or forgive Singh.<\/p>\n

“We will always wonder what could have been if her life was not cut so short,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As far as the person who committed this murder and inflicted a horrible death on our daughter, you will never be forgiven by us.”<\/p>\n

The four week re-trial concluded after about seven hours of deliberating.<\/p>\n

Singh’s first trial ended in a hung jury eight months ago.<\/p>\n

Cordingley had taken her dog to Wangetti Beach on October 21, 2018.<\/p>\n

Her family raised the alarm when she didn’t return before her father made the grisly discovery the next morning about 80 metres from her car.<\/p>\n

Police claimed Cordingley had died after “a personal and intimate attack”.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Toyah’s family raised the alarm when she didn’t return before her father made the grisly discovery the next morning about 80 metres from her car. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Online tributes poured in for the “gentle, humble and loving” Cordingley, an organic food store worker who also volunteered at an animal shelter.<\/p>\n

About 350 people packed a small chapel in the Cairns suburb of Manunda for her funeral.<\/p>\n

Soon after the body was found, Singh, a nurse from Innisfail about an hour’s drive south of Cairns, departed Australia.<\/p>\n

He boarded a flight to India, the country of his birth, leaving behind his wife and three children.<\/p>\n

In March 2021 the federal government approved an extradition warrant for Singh that was issued by police over their suspicion he’d fatally stabbed Cordingley.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Toyah’s body was discovered by her father half-buried in sand dunes at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns (Nine)<\/p>\n

By November 3, 2022 the Queensland government announced the largest reward in the state’s history for Singh’s location and arrest – a $1 million payout.<\/p>\n

Weeks after the reward was announced, Singh was arrested in New Delhi.<\/p>\n

He was extradited to Australia and charged with murder in March 2023.<\/p>\n

Singh had earlier waived his right to challenge the extradition order, telling AAP in New Delhi: “I want to go back. It is the (Indian) judicial system that has been holding things up.”<\/p>\n

“I did not kill the woman,” he said, adding he wanted to “reveal all the details” to an Australian court.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Weeks after a $1 million reward was announced, Singh was arrested in New Delhi. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Queensland Police later confirmed the $1 million reward had been paid to a number of people.<\/p>\n

The world was a poorer place without Toyah, her father Troy Cordingley said.<\/p>\n

“Today’s verdict has delivered a form of justice, but for us, it can never be true justice,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Toyah will always be alive in our hearts”<\/p>\n

The court was adjourned to Tuesday morning for sentencing submissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven years after Toyah Cordingley’s body was discovered on an isolated beach, former nurse Rajwinder Singh has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-335547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}