Rajwinder Singh set to stand trial over the alleged murder of Toyah Cordingley on Wangetti Beach, Cairns
After a six year wait, a jury is finally set to decide what happened on an isolated tropical beach that led to a young woman’s death.
Toyah Cordingley, a 24-year-old pharmacy worker, was known within her far north Queensland hometown of Cairns to be gentle, humble and loving.
On October 21, 2018 she drove to Wangetti Beach, about 40km north of the city, for a Sunday afternoon walk with her dog.
Her family raised the alarm later that evening when she didn’t return.
Toyah’s body was found by her father and other searchers half-buried in an isolated section of sand dunes about 800m from her car, which was parked in a camping ground at the beach’s southern end.
Her dog was unharmed and tied up to a tree.
Police would later allege Toyah died from ‘a personal and intimate attack’.
Cairns is world famous as a tourist gateway to Queensland’s tropic north coast.
Pharmacy worker Toyah Cordingley (pictured), a 24-year-old pharmacy worker, died in October 2018
Cruise ships regularly pull into the local port, with boats full of international visitors sailing off every morning for off-shore pontoons at prime snorkelling and diving locations on the Great Barrier Reef.
However the laid back community was shattered by the tragedy.
Hand-made posters soon appeared in shop windows appealing for information.
Online tributes also poured in for Toyah, who had volunteered at an animal shelter, thanking her for caring so much for her ‘fur babies’.
Around 350 people packed into a small chapel in the Cairns suburb of Manunda two weeks later for her funeral.
Family friend David County officiated, urging those gathered to remember Toyah how she lived, rather than how she died.
‘Today is not a day to be angry, today’s not a day to hate, today’s a day to love and reflect on how Toyah impacted our lives,’ Mr County said, according to the Cairns Post.
‘The love, the laughter, the joy, these are the memories we want to keep forever, not the bad ones.’
Toyah Cordingley’s death shattered the Cairns community in Far North Queensland
Rajwinder Singh (pictured) is set to stand trial this week over the alleged murder of Torah
Police allege Rajwinder Singh, a 38-year-old nurse from Innisfail fatally stabbed Toyah at Wangetti Beach as she walked her dog.
Singh will stand trial in the Queensland Supreme Court in Cairns from Tuesday.
The trial is expected to take between four and five weeks.
A judge overseeing the pre-trial motions described the prosecution’s case as circumstantial with no direct evidence Singh killed Toyah.
A circumstantial case means prosecutors will have to prove Singh committed murder and that there is no other reasonable explanation that would show his innocence.
Toyah’s body was found by her father and other searchers half-buried in an isolated section of sand dunes about 800m from her car
Like any other defendant on trial in Australia, Singh is presumed to be innocent unless convicted and will not be required to give evidence himself unless he chooses that option.
In the years since Toyah’s death, a boarding dog kennel north-west of Cairns where she worked set aside 50 acres of land for a permanent memorial in the form of a 2km walking track.
‘Toyah’s Walk … will allow the community a space to peacefully walk their dogs, or walk by themselves, and enjoy the natural wonder of the region in safety and without fear,’ the K9 River Retreat owners said.
