Pathway of accused murderer plotted out in court

Cairns trial

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A court sketch of Rajwinder Singh, who is on trial for the murder of Toyah Cordingley. Picture: Julie Haysom

The movements on the day Toyah Cordingley died of the man charged with her murder have dominated proceedings at the start of the second week of the Supreme Court of Queensland trial in Cairns.

Rajwinder Singh’s whereabouts on Sunday, October 21, 2018, have been painfully pieced together by police investigators using CCTV footage, dashcam and phone records.

The court heard Mr Singh left his Innisfail home in his distinctive Blue Alfa Romeo - one of only three of its kind registered in North Queensland - and visited Cairns Central shopping centre at about 11.50am. 

He was captured on CCTV wearing a striped polo shirt, grey shorts and sandals in the mall and food court - a striped polo shirt, grey shorts and sandals were later seized by police from his home. 

Further footage showed Mr Singh leaving the centre at about 12.40pm and heading north up the Captain Cook Highway at about the same time Ms Cordingley was recorded on CCTV departing Rusty’s Market in Cairns bound for Wangetti Beach to walk her dog Indie.

Dashcam and CCTV footage was shown in court of the blue Alfa Romeo travelling past Smithfield, then past the Clifton Beach turnoff at 1.17pm.

Meanwhile, according to an expert data analyst, Ms Cordingley’s phone was tracked moving from Cairns to Wangetti Beach before a data gap from 2.07pm to 3.49pm, possibly due to it not being used.

But connections were then recorded at Buchan Point between 4.51pm and 5.17pm, then near Kewarra Beach, followed by Smithfield.

There were no more records from 5.17pm, which likely meant the phone was either shut down or ran out of battery.

The court heard Ms Cordingley did not leave Wangetti Beach, but her phone did, moving in sync with Mr Singh’s Alfa Romeo.

His car was recorded on various types of camera footage travelling south through Smithfield towards Caravonica at 5.14pm, then on Lake Placid Road at 5.19pm - a road which leads to a river, and not the most direct route through Cairns.

One Innisfail traffic camera later showed Mr Singh driving past the intersection of his own street, but not turning for home.

The car was then recorded at 7.46pm south of Innisfail on a road which leads to a boat slip.

The nurse and father of three, originally from Buttar Kalan in India, saw his wife Sukhdeep Kaur briefly the next day, saying he would be back the day after.

But he then flew to Sydney, stayed with his sister overnight, and went on to India.

Records show he told a booking agent he had to have a one-way ticket “urgently” to see his sick grandparent.

Mrs Kaur reported him missing on Wednesday, October 24, then on Thursday he contacted his work supervisor to say he would not be back and needed his severance pay.

It was not until February, 2023, when he was back on Australian soil after being extradited from India.

Meanwhile, the court also heard DNA samples taken from underneath Ms Cordingley’s fingernails, logs and a stick in the area where she was killed were compared with DNA taken from Mr Singh.

A partial profile on the stick showed a probability that Mr Singh was 3.7 billion times more likely than others to have contributed to that DNA, prosecutors said.

The trial for the murder of former Paws and Claws volunteer Ms Cordingley at Wangetti Beach is expected to go for about a month, with more than 400 potential witnesses listed for possible appearances.

Mr Singh has pleaded not guilty.

 

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