A court has been told police found sand “scattered” throughout the car of the man accused of murdering Toyah Cordingley at a Far North Queensland beach.
Ms Cordingley, 24, was found with a slashed throat and multiple stab wounds on Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, on October 22, 2018.
Her body was found buried in a shallow grave on the beach the morning after she went there to walk her dog.
Former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh, 41, who is accused of her murder, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Mr Singh is accused of the 24-year-old’s murder and is standing trial in Cairns. (ABC News: Paula Broughton)
Accused’s car brings him to police’s attention
The Case Of Toyah’s Murder
The Supreme Court in Cairns was told Mr Singh came to the police’s attention through his car, a blue Alfa Romeo, about three weeks after Ms Cordingley’s death.
Prosecutors allege the car was captured travelling through parts of Cairns where Ms Cordingley’s phone connected with cell towers away from Wangetti Beach, the afternoon she died.
Mr Singh left his car at the home of a friend, Rajkaran Singh, the day Ms Cordingley’s body was found, as he embarked on a one-way journey to India, the court heard.
A court has heard police investigating the murder of Toyah Cordingley identified Rajwinder Singh through the movements of his blue Alfa Romeo. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
Police forensic coordinator Senior Sergeant Amanda Milligan examined Mr Singh’s car in November 2018, testing it for blood and trace DNA.
Senior Sergeant Milligan told the court the inside of the blue car was “not overly messy,” but there was “no indication it had been very recently detailed”.
“[The outside] didn’t look as though the vehicle had been recently washed,” she said.
Ms Cordingley had gone to the beach to walk her dog the day before she was found dead. (Facebook: Toyah Cordingley)
Floor mats missing, court hears
Senior Sergeant Milligan told the court she found sand scattered in various places throughout the car and noticed both front floor mats were missing.
She also described “an apparent void where there was less residue or material” in the centre of the passenger-side foot well.
Sand was collected from multiple parts of the car, including the rear driver’s side floor mat, the driver’s instep, and the centre console.
A presumptive test indicated the presence of blood on the underside of a rear door handle and a tissue box.
Another police forensic scientist, Sergeant Lesley Walker, told the court an examination of the floors, doors, seats, roof and dashboard of Mr Singh’s Alfa Romeo using a substance called luminol did not reveal any blood.
Senior Sergeant Milligan also examined the car of Ms Cordingley’s partner, Marco Heidenreich, the day after her body was found.
No blood was found inside his car, she told the court.
The trial is being held in the Supreme Court in Cairns. (ABC News: Mark Rigby)
Reward for information ‘publicised widely’
Queensland Police was seeking information about Mr Singh’s whereabouts in India by November 2018, the court heard.
Detective Superintendent Murray Taylor was the Australian Federal Police’s senior officer at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi at the time.
Accused killer’s sister speaks in Toyah Cordingley murder trial
He told the court he had multiple meetings with Indian law enforcement about Mr Singh, including with senior figures at India’s Central Bureau of Investigation and the superintendent in charge of the police district where Mr Singh’s family was from.
Australian officials made a formal request for Mr Singh’s extradition in 2021.
In early November 2022, a reward was offered for information which was “publicised widely in the Indian media”.
“Had there been media [about the search for Mr Singh] in a general sense before that point?” Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane asked.
“No, not in India,” Superintendent Taylor said.
Three weeks later, the AFP received information that Mr Singh would attend a gurdwara Sikh temple in northern New Delhi, the court heard.
About a dozen Indian police waited at the temple for Mr Singh to arrive, and he was arrested before 6am the morning after the information was received, Superintendent Taylor said.
Mr Singh did not contest his extradition to Australia, which was approved by Indian authorities in January 2023.
He was brought back to Australia the following month.
The trial continues.
