Jury discharged in high-profile Australia beach murder

Toyah Cordingley was killed in 2018 while out walking her dog

A jury in the trial of a former nurse accused of murdering a woman on a remote Australian beach has been discharged, after they could not reach a verdict.

Toyah Cordingley was stabbed at least 26 times while out walking her dog in October 2018.

The 24-year-old's body was discovered by her father, half-buried in sand dunes on Wangetti beach between the popular tourist hotspots of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 40, who travelled to India the day after Ms Cordingley's body was found, was charged with murder. He was arrested and then extradited to Australia in 2023.

But jurors at Cairns Supreme Court said they were deadlocked, and unable to reach a unanimous decision on his guilt after two-and-half days of deliberations. The judge thanked the jury for their "diligence".

Under Queensland law, jury verdicts in murder cases must be unanimous. So Mr Singh will face another trial.

Originally from Buttar Kalan in the Indian state of Punjab, Mr Singh had been living in Innisfail at the time of the killing, a town about two hours south from the crime scene.

Prosecutors said they did not have a motive for the killing of Ms Cordingley - a health store worker and animal shelter volunteer - and there was no evidence of a sexual assault.

The trial at Cairns Supreme court heard that DNA highly likely to be Mr Singh's was discovered on a stick in the victim's grave.

Data from mobile phone towers also suggested Ms Cordingley's phone had moved in a similar pattern to Mr Singh's blue Alfa Romeo car on the day the victim went missing.

The prosecution also suggested the hurried way Mr Singh left Australia without saying goodbye to his family or colleagues pointed to his guilt.

Mr Singh had denied murder – and had told an undercover police officer he had seen the killing, then left the country, leaving behind his wife and children because he feared for his own life.

His defence lawyer said he was "a coward" but not a killer, and accused police of a "flawed" investigation that did not look sufficiently at other possible suspects.

They said DNA found at the scene, including on the victim's discarded selfie stick, did not match Mr Singh's profile.

"There is an unknown person's DNA at that grave site," defence barrister Angus Edwards told the jury.