Movements of blue Alfa Romeo registered to Rajwinder Singh, 40, on day of Toyah’s death played to court at murder trial
The intricacies of the police investigation into the murder of Toyah Cordingley are gradually being revealed to the jury as the officers in charge of combing through CCTV footage.
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The intricacies of the police investigation into the murder of Toyah Cordingley are gradually being revealed to the jury as the officers explain their techniques and reasoning in the days and weeks following Ms Cordingley’s death.
Several exhibits were tendered to the court on day four of the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty in the Cairns Supreme Court to the murder of Toyah Cordingley, 24, at Wangetti Beach on October 21, 2018.
Investigating officers Detective Sergeant Gary Hall, who headed up the initial investigation, and Detective Sergeant Matt Mattock, who was in charge of the CCTV inquiries, returned to the witness box on day four.
The jury was given copies of spreadsheets detailing cars travelling along the Captain Cook Hwy, and shown a video of the movements of a blue Alfa Romeo on the day Ms Cordingley died.
They were also given a detailed spreadsheet with the movements and activities of mobile telephones belonging to Toyah Cordingley, her boyfriend Marco Heidenreich, and two other men, Evan McCrea and Remy Fry.
Little context has been offered yet for Mr McCrea’s and Mr Fry’s telephone data and, when the jury asked the judge about its significance, Justice James Henry said the information might be relevant in future, reminding the jury that the defence had mentioned both men by name in its opening statements.
He reminded the jury that the Crown might also need to “disprove rival possibilities” in making its case.
The spreadsheets showed Mr Heidenreich had made more than 10 phone calls to Ms Cordingley – all unanswered – after 7pm on October 21, 2018.
Telstra security data analyst Mark Borg from the company’s law enforcement liaison team compiled the Telstra records for investigating police.
The court was told Ms Cordingley’s phone connected with Woree towers in the morning, Cairns City towers in the middle of the day, then connected with towers at Buchan Point, Island Point and Port Douglas in the afternoon, around the time when Ms Cordingley was believed to be walking her dog Indie at Wangetti Beach.
The final connections between 4.51pm and 5.17pm were with towers at Saddle Mountain and Smithfield, the court was told.
Data was also presented to the court, which was used to determine the phone’s distance from a mobile phone tower.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane asked Mr Borg why there were no records for Ms Cordingley’s phone after 5.17pm.
“It could have been turned off or the battery would have gone flat … if it was turned on and functioning correctly, you would expect to see a record, yes,” Mr Borg said.
Mr Borg told the court mobile phones were in constant contact with cell towers, whether they were being actively used or not.
“There’s always something happening … there’s a consistent communication with the network,” he said.
Mr Borg said the best connection for a mobile phone was not always to the closest tower.
In other evidence, the jury was provided with a spreadsheet describing every one of the 219 cars that passed through a “choke point” at Clifton Beach – a single place where all cars travelling from Wangetti to Cairns would pass.
The court was told Detective Sergeant Mattock led a team of 10 officers dedicated to reviewing CCTV footage, supported by many other officers, who had been tasked with physically collecting the footage.
The cars were identified from CCTV footage and captured at a time when it was believed Ms Cordingley’s mobile telephone was also travelling on the road away from Wangetti Beach, towards Cairns.
Detective Sergeant Mattock said the number of cars to investigate was narrowed even further to around 70 when police received “timing in advance” data in November, which provided distance data for Ms Cordingley’s phone.
The footage was collected from Transport and Main Roads cameras, and CCTV cameras at service stations, bottleshops and businesses that captured key locations.
The jury was also shown a compilation of footage of a blue Alfa Romeo 159, travelling from Innisfail to the area near Wangetti Beach on the day of Ms Cordingley’s death after it was identified as a vehicle of interest.
The court was told that, despite a media appeal for information, no one came forward to claim this vehicle.
Most other vehicles were able to be ruled out when their drivers came forward or they were filmed at other locations, the court was told.
The Alfa Romeo footage captured a man driving from Innisfail, north past Gordonvale, and through Cairns, stopping at the Cairns Central shopping centre around 11.50am where the driver, wearing a striped polo shirt, grey shorts and thongs, was captured on CCTV walking through the mall and eating in the food court.
Earlier, the court heard a striped polo shirt, grey shorts, and a pair of sandals had been seized from Mr Singh’s home in Innisfail.
The vehicle was captured leaving the shopping centre at 12.40pm, before travelling north along the Captain Cook Hwy through Smithfield and Clifton Road, but not as far north as the BP petrol station at Craiglie, north of Wangetti beach.
Later, the vehicle was captured travelling south again through Smithfield heading towards Caravonica at 5.14pm, then seen on CCTV footage from the Lake Placid Apartments on Lake Placid road at 5.19pm.
Mr Crane asked if that road came to a body of water.
Detective Sergeant Mattock told the court the road leads to a river.
The car is then captured travelling along the western arterial road, through Cairns, south on the Bruce Hwy towards Innisfail, passing by a “boat slip” near Mourilyan, before returning to the Flying Fish Point roundabout near Seymour Street, the location of Mr Singh's family home.
The trial continues.
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Originally published as Movements of blue Alfa Romeo registered to Rajwinder Singh, 40, on day of Toyah’s death played to court at murder trial
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