DNA found on stick in Toyah’s grave likely belonged to Rajwinder Singh, court told

A jury has heard detailed evidence about DNA samples taken from a stick in Toyah’s Cordingley’s shallow sand grave, a court has been told.

A DNA sample taken from a stick in Toyah’s Cordingley’s shallow sand grave was 3.7 billion times more likely to be Rajwinder Singh’s – a probability common to only two or three other people in the world, a court has been told.

Scientist Rhys Parry was the case manager tasked with analysing DNA samples from the crime scene and comparing them with the 92 “reference samples” from people in the area, and those involved in the search or the investigation.

Mr Parry is giving evidence in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, a former nurse from Innisfail, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Cordingley, 24, on October 21, 2018, at Wangetti Beach north of Cairns.

Mr Parry described the testing methods used at Forensic Science Queensland to compare DNA samples from crime scenes, with samples obtained from individuals.

He said that, out of the “millions of pieces of information within a genome” scientists looked at 20 regions that were highly variable or, as suggested by Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane, “there is a uniqueness to these sites”.

Rajwinder Singh is on trial after being charged with the murder of Toyah Cordingley. Illustrations: Julie Haysom

He then outlined the complex statistical calculations that were used to produce a “likelihood ratio”.

He said a two-times likelihood ratio was similar to saying one in two people in the general population might match a sample.

Likewise, a billion-times ratio could be described as one in a billion people would be a likely match.

Mr Parry said Mr Singh’s DNA was received at the lab on March 16, 2023.

He said the lab conducted tests on DNA samples lifted from a number of sticks and logs at the crime scene, many of which returned results indicating they were 100 billion times more likely to match with Ms Cordingley’s DNA, which is the number assigned for the highest certainty of a match.

He said samples taken from different sites on the sticks in Ms Cordingley’s sand grave had “incomplete two-person mixtures” of DNA.

The likelihood that the second person was Mr Singh ranged from 3.7 billion times more likely to 4100 times more likely to two times more likely, the jury heard.

Toyah Cordingley was killed on Wangetti Beach on October 21, 2018.

A swab taken from Ms Cordingley’s left hand returned results 340 times more likely to have been contributed by Evan McCrea - a nudist tradie who the court previously heard frequented the beach where Ms Cordingley was killed - and 26 times more likely to have been contributed by Mr Singh.

Testing of driftwood logs placed near the gravesite, however, showed high likelihoods that Mr Singh did not contribute to DNA samples there.

Mr Singh’s DNA was said to be 78 billion times more likely to not be present at one spot on the logs, and 820 and 57 times more likely not to be present at other sites on the logs, the court was told.

DNA testing of the collar and lead used with Ms Cordingley’s dog, Indie, also did not return a likelihood that Mr Singh’s DNA was present on them.

The DNA on these items did come back as highly likely to be a match for Ms Cordingley’s boyfriend, Marco Heidenreich, with whom she lived, the court heard.

Mr Parry said DNA could be degraded by ultraviolet light from the sun over time, and testing could be affected by the presence of minerals found in sand.

He said washing in seawater could reduce the amount of DNA available to be extracted for testing, and said DNA could be transferred from one surface to another via a third person.

Reference samples were taken from Ms Cordingley, her family and friends, Mr Singh, “persons of interest” in the investigation, and other people who had been identified as having been at Wangetti that weekend.

One of those people who was at the Wangetti that weekend, was Remy Fry, the court was told.

DNA expert Rhys Parry leaves the Cairns Supreme Court during a break in proceedings in the murder trial of Rajwinder Singh. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Fry, a physical education teacher who worked at Mareeba State School in October 2018, was named by the defence team in a list of alternative suspects in court at the start of the trial.

Conflicting evidence was heard in the court on Monday about his whereabouts that day.

Mr Fry told the court he visited his mother and friends in Wangetti on October 21, 2018.

But one of the friends he said he visited – Peter Lincoln — told the court he did not see Mr Fry that day.

Remy Fry was called to give evidence in the Toyah Cordingley murder trial, at the Cairns courthouse on Monday, March 3.

Mr Lincoln said “he didn’t think anyone had visited that day between 10am and 5pm,” and told the court he was looking after his young son, 2, at the time.

Mr Fry told the court he drove from Kuranda to his mother’s place on Hartley St around 1pm on the day Ms Cordingley died.

He said he went to the house of a friend called Josh, three doors down, but Josh was in hospital so he stayed to catch up with other friends, Sifu, and Peter Lincoln, who were at the house at the time, and also lived nearby.

Mr Fry said he spent a few hours “having a few beers and listening to some music” with his friends before returning to his mother’s house around 3.30pm and departing Wangetti to return to his home in Kuranda.

He said he did not go to Wangetti Beach that day.

Pictures were shown to the court of Mr Fry’s making a stop at a service station at Clifton Beach around 4.45pm that afternoon.

The court was told Mr Fry was interviewed by the police on October 31, 2018, and Mr Lincoln gave a statement on November 2, 2018.

Originally published as DNA found on stick in Toyah’s grave likely belonged to Rajwinder Singh, court told