Possible suspects, witnesses and accused's family speak out in court

Murder trial

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A Cairns courtroom artist's impression of proceedings during the trial for Toyah Cordingley's murder.

The second week of the Toyah Cordingley murder trial has concluded with a probe into the movements of several other people known to frequent Wangetti Beach or who were there on the day of the murder.

Tiler Evan McCrea told the court he contacted police partly in response to a warning from his ex-wife that he could become a suspect in the murder of the former Paws and Claws pet shelter volunteer, but his mother confirmed he was with her and his children that weekend.

Mr McCrea had been going through a distressing separation, with his estranged wife reportedly telling Queensland Police Detective Sergeant Graham Camp he could go into "deep depressions where he is dangerous".

A series of text messages read to the court from October 18, 2018 - a few days before Ms Cordingley was killed - recorded Mr McCrea expressing a desire to “go pigging to kill something".

He told the court he used to go pigging at Wangetti Beach, but he did not do that on Sunday, October 21, the day Ms Cordingley was killed.

Mr McCrea’s mother Diane McCrea said he had spent the weekend at her house with her and his two children.

He had stayed at her home with his children from 1-5pm Sunday afternoon, she said.

Ms McCrea said her son normally took his children back to her mother at about 5pm.

Police officer John Dijkstra said he had tracked the movements of Mr McCrea on the day of the death, with footage showing Mr McCrea with and without his children at several locations on the weekend including Smithfield roundabout, Smithfield shopping centre and Thomatis Creek.

Traffic camera footage shown in court pictured Mr McCrea's ute driving north from Cairns to Smithfield Shopping Centre at about 5.20pm on the day of the murder before he was seen heading back to Cairns.

Others to give evidence in court included Port Douglas friends Brett Liddell and Nicola Hatt, who said they went to Wangetti Beach for 15-20 minutes from 4-5pm on the day of the death.

Mr Liddell told the court, at one stage during that time, he saw a man emerge from the bushes carrying a “professional-looking” camera with a large lens. 

Meanwhile, communications workers gave more evidence in court last week about accused murderer Rajwinder Singh’s mobile phone usage.

Data records showed a gap in data from 1.16pm and 8.15pm on the day of Ms Cordingley’s death, meaning the phone was likely either turned off or had a flat battery.

That evening, Mr Singh used his phone to call Innisfail hospital and, the next morning, a travel agent.

The work colleague who took Mr Singh to the airport on Monday, October 22, 2018, also gave evidence that his friend appeared to be “carrying a lot of stress”.

Rajkaran Singh told the court “I kept asking ‘is everything fine?’,” and his friend replied “everything is fine”.

Rajwinder Singh left his blue Alfa Romeo at Rajkaran’s house the day he left and never returned for it.

Mr Singh’s father Amar Singh also told the court his son never once tried to contact him.

His wife Sukhdeep Kaur told the court he left the home on Monday afternoon with a “little handbag” saying “I’ll be back tomorrow”, but she also never heard from him again.

Ms Kaur said he met her husband in India in 2009 and they moved to Australia the year they married.

She said Mr Singh had moved out of home during 2018, but had returned after she had become upset and had asked him to come back.

In other evidence, police diver Senior Constable Matthew Guitman said searches of creeks in Westcourt, Lake Placid, and the mangroves behind Wangetti Beach turned up no items of interest.

Rajwinder Singh has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Queensland of the murder of Ms Cordingley at Wangetti Beach.

The trial is expected to go for another fortnight, with more than 400 potential witnesses listed for appearances.

 

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