A former nurse must serve a 25-year non-parole period for fatally stabbing Toyah Cordingley, seven years after her body was discovered on an isolated beach.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, was on Tuesday given a life sentence a day after being found guilty of murder in Cairns’ Supreme Court following a four-week retrial.
Singh repeatedly stabbed Cordingley and slashed her throat at a far-north Queensland beach in October 2018 before fleeing to India, spending years in hiding.
Cordingley, 24, was discovered by her father half-buried in sand dunes at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, a day after she failed to return from walking her dog.
A jury delivered a guilty verdict on Monday following approximately seven hours of consideration.
Singh’s first trial ended in a hung jury eight months ago.
Cordingley had taken her dog to Wangetti Beach on 21 October 2018.
Her family raised the alarm when she didn’t return before her father made the discovery the next morning, about 80 metres from her car.
Police said Cordingley had died after “a personal and intimate attack”.
Shortly after the discovery of Toyah Cordingley’s body, Rajwinder Singh, a nurse hailing from Innisfail, a town about an hour south of Cairns, left Australia.
Toyah Cordingley’s remains were found roughly 80 meters from her parked car. Her dog, which was unharmed, had been tied to a nearby tree, according to Queensland Police.
Singh boarded a flight to India, the country of his birth, leaving behind his wife and three children.
A record $1 million reward was offered by Queensland Police in late 2022 for information leading to the location and arrest of Singh, a runaway suspect.
Weeks later, Singh was arrested in New Delhi and he was extradited to Australia and charged with murder in March 2023.
Police later confirmed the $1 million reward had been paid to a number of people.
