A man accused of the murder of Queensland woman Toyah Cordingley is due to stand trial for a second time, with a new date set after a trial earlier this month ended in a hung jury.
On Wednesday, Justice James Henry set a start date of November 10 for a retrial, noting there was a “broader public interest in a prompt trial”.
On March 18, it was reported a jury has been unable to reach a unanimous verdict in Rajwinder Singh‘s trial for the murder of Toyah Cordingley after days of deliberating.
Cordingley, a 24-year-old organic food store worker, was found buried in sand at a beach outside Cairns in far north Queensland on October 22, 2018. Former hospital nurse Rajwinder Singh, 40, from nearby Innisfail, had pleaded not guilty to murder.
As reported by ABC News, defence solicitor Nick Dore sought a trial listing date in February 2026 “when we know we have a senior and junior [barrister] available”, telling the court Singh sought to be represented at trial by elite criminal barrister Saul Holt, KC.
However Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane opposed a February 2026 listing, telling the court he was prepared for a retrial as early as July.
“The Crown doesn’t want to wait 12 months for a retrial,” he said.
The jury had begun deliberating earlier this month after being shown graphic autopsy photos during a 13-day trial in the Supreme Court in Cairns and hearing from hundreds of witnesses.
Justice James Henry earlier told jurors the prosecution would present a case based on circumstantial evidence because there was no direct witness to the alleged crime.
Cordingley took her dog for a walk at Wangetti Beach, a long and isolated stretch of sand about a 40-minute drive north of Cairns, on October 21, 2018.
Her boyfriend Marco Heidenreich called triple zero to report her missing after he found her vehicle in the beach car park and was unable to reach her by phone.
Cordingley’s father, Troy, found the body while investigating a mound of sand on the pre-dawn beach.
Her dog Indie was found unharmed and tied to a nearby tree.
Crown prosecutor Crane told the jury nobody witnessed Cordingley being killed or saw the murderer get away.
But Singh’s distinctive blue Alfa Romeo sedan could be linked to locations of Cordingley’s phone as it contacted cell towers after being taken from her body, he said.
Singh was an Indian national who had lived in Australia since 2009, the jury was told.
He flew out of Australia the day after Cordingley’s body was found, quit his job and stopped paying the mortgage on his family’s two-storey house, Crane said.
He was not seen again until November 2022 when he was found and extradited to Australia, the jury was told.
Lead defence barrister Angus Edwards told jurors they could not convict Singh unless they could reject all other reasonable suspects for the killing.
“This whole trial comes down to one issue: could it only have been Rajwinder Singh or is he just one of several possibilities,” he said.
After more than two days of deliberating, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and they were discharged on March 18.
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