Queensland, Australia, December 09, 2025
Rajwinder Singh has been found guilty of the 2018 murder of Toyah Cordingley on a beach near Cairns, Queensland. After fleeing to India and evading capture for four years, Singh was arrested, extradited, and convicted in a month-long trial. The conviction marks the end of a lengthy international manhunt and legal process.
Conviction and Crime Details
A former nurse originally from Punjab, India, Rajwinder Singh was convicted for the fatal stabbing of 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley. Cordingley was found with 26 stab wounds and a slit throat, her body partially buried in the sand dunes of Wangetti Beach in October 2018. The brutal attack reportedly started after an argument on the beach triggered by Cordingley’s dog barking at Singh.
Flight and Manhunt
Shortly following the murder, Singh fled Australia under the pretense of a family emergency, abandoning his wife and three children. He remained a fugitive in India for four years. Queensland Police initiated a four-year international search effort, offering a reward of one million Australian dollars for information leading to his capture—the largest reward ever issued by the department.
Arrest and Extradition
Singh was apprehended in November 2022 at a gurudwara in Delhi by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Following his arrest, he was extradited back to Australia in 2023 to face trial for Cordingley’s murder.
Trial Proceedings and Verdict
The trial was held at the Cairns Supreme Court and lasted a month after an earlier hung jury. Singh’s conviction brought a wave of emotional responses, with the victim’s family and the community expressing a mixture of grief and relief. In court, Cordingley’s father openly directed his anger and sorrow toward Singh during the verdict reading.
Background and Circumstances
At the time, Singh was reportedly carrying a kitchen knife and some fruits when he encountered Cordingley at the beach. After the homicide, he tied the dog to a tree before fleeing. Singh’s background as a nurse and his origins from Punjab underscore the international dimension of this case.
The verdict now moves the case toward sentencing. This decision offers a degree of closure after nearly seven years of intense grief and uncertainty for the Queensland community and Cordingley’s family, affirming the outcomes of an extensive investigative and judicial process.