Nurse pleads not guilty to remote beach murder at trial

The man accused of killing Toyah Cordingley has pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of his trial, more than six years after the young woman’s body was found at an isolated Queensland beach.

The Supreme Court of Queensland on Tuesday started hearing the case in Cairns, about 40 kilometres south of the alleged crime scene in the state’s far north.

Rajwinder Singh, a nurse from Innisfail, was charged in March 2023 with the murder of 24-year-old Cordingley.

Singh formally entered a plea for the first time on Tuesday and said “not guilty” when asked how he pleaded to the charge of murdering Cordingley on October 21, 2018.

The court took more than 2½ hours to process a pool of hundreds of people to potentially serve as jurors.

Singh appeared with a beard and wearing a white turban and sat in the middle of a dock built to hold up to six defendants at once.

Toyah Cordingley was out walking her dog on Wangetti Beach when she disappeared. Her body was found the next day.Credit: Facebook

The courtroom was full to overcapacity with potential jurors who listened to Singh be arraigned on the charge of murder and his plea.

Police accused Singh of fatally stabbing Cordingley at Wangetti Beach.

Cordingley had driven to the beach for a Sunday afternoon walk with her dog.

Her family raised the alarm that evening when she didn’t return.

Her body was found by her father and other searchers half-buried in an isolated section of sand dunes about 800 metres from her car, which was parked in a camping ground at the beach’s southern end.

Her dog was found unharmed and tied to a tree.

Cordingley, a pharmacy worker, was known within her home town to have been gentle, humble and loving.

Jury selection for the trial before Justice James Henry was expected to continue on Tuesday.

AAP