Don’t endanger the court case: Troy Cordingley’s message for Toyah’s supporters

Standing in the rain under a weeping sky at Yorkeys Knob in front of a giant mural which bears an image of his beloved daughter, Toyah Cordingley’s dad Troy has made an important plea to the community.

Standing in the rain under a weeping sky at Yorkeys Knob in front of a giant mural which bears an image of his beloved daughter, Toyah Cordingley’s dad Troy has implored the community not to endanger the judicial process which could bring her suspected murder back to Australian shores to face charges.

The massive mural adorning the side of a storage shed on the Captain Cook Hwy is itself an enduring symbol of how much the Far North community cared for the vibrant, animal-loving young woman, who was killed on Wangetti Beach four years ago.

It has been a long, tortuous road for Mr Cordingley and Toyah’s mum Vanessa Gardiner.

And with the extradition process to return suspected murderer Rajwinder Singh to Australia now in full swing, Mr Cordingley said he wished for the public to refrain from commenting about the matter.

He said he wanted there to be no barriers to bringing the alleged killer to justice.

“I would respectfully ask the media and the community in general not to engage in rumours or gossip concerning Toyah’s case,” he said.

“The only people who should be commenting on the case are the Queensland Police or Toyah’s immediate family, such as myself or her mother Vanessa.”

Troy Cordingley, father of Toyah Cordingley, is pleased to see the arrest of Rajwinder Singh in New Delhi, India. He has confidence in the Queensland justice system, and asks the community to be patient. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Cordingley said now the police had found Mr Singh and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus confirmed that he’d been remanded in custody after appearing before Metropolitan Magistrate at the Patiala House Courts in New Delhi, it was imperative that nothing stand in the way of him being extradited to Cairns to face trial.

“We cannot run the risk of jeopardising the case with ill-timed rumours or inappropriate comments from anybody,” he said.

“Let the police do their job, they know what they are doing and in time, we can hopefully get the result we all desperately need.”

Mr Singh, an Innisfail nurse with a wife and three children, left Australia for India alone two days after Ms Cordingley was killed.

He was ambushed by police and arrested in India last week while on his way to a doctor’s appointment in an extraordinary end to a top-secret 20-month operation to find him.

Rajwinder Singh (L) who was brought to the Patiala Court today from Tihar Jail. His father Amar Singh (R)

Mr Singh appeared in New Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Wednesday where his judicial custody was extended to December 17, when he is scheduled to reappear for a submission of evidence.

A dishevelled Singh, wearing the same clothes he wore when he was arrested five days ago, was led into the court by local police who held his hand.

Taking to the media outside court, Union of India lawyer Advocate Ajay Digpaul said: “The case has proceeded now, on the next hearing there will be recording of the evidence”.

“Evidence will be the documents that Australia has submitted, secondly there are some identity documents,” he said.

“We have to just prove the court that these documents are genuine.”

Toyah Cordingley, who was killed at Wangetti Beach in October 2018, aged 24. Picture: Facebook.

On Monday Mr Cordingley spoke about how he had never lost faith in the police throughout the years of investigation.

On Wednesday Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch confirmed he had received a letter in which Mr Dreyfus reaffirmed his department’s commitment to ensuring whoever took Ms Cordingley’s life was held responsible.

“I would like to reassure Ms Cordingley’s family and friends, and your community more broadly, that this matter will remain a high priority for the government as the extradition process moves ahead,” Mr Dreyfus said in the letter.

Meanwhile, four years after a family lost a daughter, a community mourns and waits for justice.

New Toyah signs amid break in case

A Cairns businessman who donated prime roadside real estate to call for information on the killing of Toyah Cordingley has suggested updated signs were needed after a major breakthrough in the case last week.

In November 2018, one month after Ms Cordingley’s body was discovered in a shallow grave at Wangetti Beach, two huge roadside signs were installed on the side of a storage shed at Yorkeys Knob.

The signs displayed the Crime Stoppers phone number before it was publicly known that suspect Rajwinder Singh had already left the country.

Owner of Copy Shop Print and Signs Steve Parsonage has begun a print run of 10,000 stickers which read: Justice for Toyah – the community deserves it. Picture: Brendan Radke

Shed owner Rodney Meares said he leased the property from landowners, the Lemura family, who were fully supportive of the signs after discussion with Ms Cordingley’s grandmother.

“Everyone was happy for it to happen,” he said.

Four years after the signs went up Mr Meares said the square-shaped banner at the front of the shed had to be removed to gain access to the building.

“We are not going to pull (the letterbox-shaped sign) down (but) it would be nice if we can change it,” he said.

Buoyed by the arrest of former Innisfail nurse Mr Singh last Friday the Cairns community has come together to demand justice through a new sticker campaign after the national success of a 2018 print run in which 300,000 decals were created.

With the arrest of Rajwinder Singh in New Delhi, a person of interest in the Toyah Cordingley murder case, a new round of car bumper stickers are now being printed in Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

This week 10,000 new stickers demanding “justice for Toyah” were printed by Copy Shop Print and Signs, however plans for fresh signs for the roadside shed have not been announced.

At a conclusion to a four-year manhunt that landed Mr Singh in a New Deli jail Mr Meares said he was “very happy.”

“It took some more innocence from the town, but you feel like now it can get solved,” he said.

“If you lived here all your life you know (Cairns) used to be a very safe place to live.

“It’s good to know someone is going to be held accountable because (otherwise) it would be more of a sour flavour in your mouth.”

Originally published as Don’t endanger the court case: Troy Cordingley’s message for Toyah’s supporters