Scientist Jayshree Patel gives evidence in relation to Toyah Cordingley’s upcoming murder trial
A senior forensic scientist has testified she is confident her report on eight DNA samples taken from the body of slain Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley and from wood found nearby is accurate.
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A senior forensic scientist has testified she is confident her report on eight DNA samples taken from the body of slain Cairns woman Toyah Cordingley and from wood found nearby is accurate.
Jayshree Patel, senior forensic scientist at Institute of Environmental Science and Research at Wellington in New Zealand, was cross-examined in Cairns Supreme Court on Monday by the defence barrister for the man charged with Toyah’s murder, Rajwinder Singh.
Mr Singh is charged with the murder of Toyah, 24, at Wangetti Beach north of Cairns on October 21, 2018.
At a pre-trial hearing on Monday, Angus Edwards KC grilled Dr Patel at length about the integrity of DNA samples taken from Toyah’s hands, feet, a sports shoe and a branch and a stick.
She gave evidence DNA was analysed in 2018 and in 2023 at her laboratory.
Ms Patel explained there was a degradation index and DNA from Toyah’s fingernails, tested in 2018 and 2019, had an index value of 8.35.
“Anything greater than 10 in our laboratory implies poor quality, so it was just on borderline, anything less than 10 is acceptable,” she said.
She said the DNA was tested twice independently.
“I am confident the result we got at the end is good to use because of all the checks,” Dr Patel said.
Mr Edwards asked her if the results were infallible.
“If there had been a problem I would have said that in my report, I have trust in the results we’ve reported,” she responded.
“I am asking if there is no room for error and it is infallible,” Mr Edwards persisted.
“I don’t think I would go that far, in this particular case I think the results are fine, I’m confident.”
Mr Singh, dressed in a blue suit and white turban, sat attentively in the dock, taking extensive notes in a black folder.
He is yet to enter a plea but a trial date of July 22 has been set.
Ms Patel described that extracts from two finger nails had “red brown staining”.
Toyah was reported missing on Sunday, October 21, 2018, before her body was tragically discovered the following morning.
Police established Operation Quebec Clarify in the wake of her death.
At an earlier hearing, Toyah’s boyfriend Marco Heidenreich gave evidence Toyah left their Woree home to walk her dog on the beach and he left to meet a friend and go hiking shortly afterwards.
Mr Heidenreich said he saw Toyah’s car at Wangetti Beach car park as he drove north on the Captain Cook Highway to pick up a mate at Port Douglas.
The outing lasted longer than anticipated because Mr Heidenreich’s dog ran away and he and his friend spent several hours looking for her, the court heard previously.
He drove back about 9.30pm and instantly became alarmed when he saw that Toyah’s car was still in the Wangetti Beach carpark.
Mr Heidenreich told the court he ran up the beach shouting Toyah’s name and called the police soon afterwards.
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