“Rot in hell, you bast***”, the father of Toyah Cordingley said as the murderer of his daughter was finally convicted after seven years. Rajwainder Singh, an Indian man, a former nurse working in Australia, stabbed Cordingley at least 26 times and then cut her throat while the 24-year-old woman was out for her morning walk with her dog. Singh fled to India the day after Cordingley’s body was discovered and was absconding for four years before his arrest in 2022. His first trial ended in a hung jury and his second trial resumed after eight months. At the end of a four-week second trial, the jury took seven hours to convict Singh in the high-profile murder. The 2018 murder triggered outrage across Far North Queensland as people marched demanding justice for Cordingley, a health store worker and animal shelter volunteer who was much loved in her community. Her body was discovered by her father half-buried in sand dunes on Wangetti beach.
How was Singh arrested in India?
Singh had been living in Innisfail at the time of the murder. But when police zeroed in on him. he had already fled the country, leaving his wife, three children and parents in Australia. After being on the run for four years, Singh was arrested at a Sikh gurdwara in New Delhi in November 2022, less than a month after Queensland police announced a $1 million reward for information on his whereabouts. He did not contest extradition and returned to Australia in early 2023.Investigators said Singh attacked Toyah Cordingley after her dog barked at Singh. His defence argued during the trial that it was not possible for him to overpower Condingley and her dog and that there were several others at that point on the beach with histories of violence, drug abuse, mental illness.
