Life Sentence for Ex-Nurse in Brutal 2018 Wangetti Beach Murder of Toyah Cordingley

A former nurse has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a retrial found him guilty of the 2018 killing of 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley. Cordingley disappeared after driving to Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, to walk her dog on Oct. 21, 2018; the next morning her father found her body half-buried in sand dunes with a slashed throat and at least 26 stab wounds.

Verdict and Sentence

On Dec. 8, 2025, a Supreme Court jury in Cairns returned a unanimous guilty verdict against 41-year-old Rajwinder Singh after roughly seven hours of deliberation following a four-week retrial. On Dec. 9, Justice Lincoln Crowley sentenced Singh to life imprisonment with a 25-year non-parole period.

Crime and Investigation

Investigators identified Singh as a person of interest after matching the movements of a blue Alfa Romeo registered to him with location data from Cordingley’s phone as it left the beach. Forensic evidence played a key role: prosecutors told the court that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was billions of times more likely to have originated from Singh than from a random member of the public.

Extradition and Trials

Singh fled to India the day after the killing and was located at a Sikh gurdwara in New Delhi in late 2022, after Queensland Police issued a record A$1 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He did not contest extradition and returned to Australia in early 2023. Singh’s first trial earlier this year ended with a hung jury; the retrial produced a unanimous guilty verdict.

Court Remarks and Possible Motive

Justice Crowley described the attack as an "opportunistic killing," saying the motive remains unknown. The judge suggested a possible explanation was that Cordingley may have accidentally discovered Singh engaged in an embarrassing or sexual activity at the secluded beach, prompting a violent confrontation. He also noted Singh took Cordingley’s phone, which could indicate she had recorded or intended to report what she saw.

Community Impact and Reactions

Cordingley’s murder shocked Far North Queensland and sparked widespread public grief and protests, including marches and bumper stickers calling for justice. Outside court, Toyah’s mother, Vanessa Gardiner, described the verdict as "a long-awaited day for us as a family" but not a cause for celebration. Her father expressed the family’s enduring loss, saying the verdict provided "a form of justice" while acknowledging there could never be true closure.

Aftermath

Police called the case one of the largest and most complex in the region’s history, saying detectives made significant efforts to exhaust all lines of inquiry. The sentencing closes a long chapter in the investigation, but family members and the community continue to mourn Cordingley’s loss.

Key Facts: Toyah Cordingley, 24, was found Oct. 22, 2018. Rajwinder Singh, 41, was convicted in Dec. 2025 and sentenced to life with a 25-year non-parole period.