Slain woman ‘unhappy with boyfriend’ days before death

Alleged murder victim Toyah Cordingley was unhappy with her boyfriend and wanted to leave him a week before her body was found buried on a beach, a jury has heard.

Rajwinder Singh has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to the murder of Cordingley, 24, at an isolated far north Queensland beach on October 22, 2018.

Cordingley drove to Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, for a Sunday afternoon walk with her dog on October 21, 2018 and never returned.

Toyah Cordingley.

Tyson Franklin on Thursday testified that he had met Cordingley earlier that month when he gave her a podiatry assessment.

Franklin said he had “feelings for her” and believed the pair had “chemistry”.

Under cross-examination by defence barrister Brydie Bilic, Franklin admitted he lied to police on October 22, 2018, when he said the pair had not been physically intimate.

Franklin said he had actually spent the night at Cordingley’s home on October 14 and left in the early hours of October 15.

“You lied about your relationship?” Bilic said.

“I didn’t tell it in full,” Franklin said.

Lead defence barrister Angus Edwards previously told the jury that there were a number of other potential suspects in Cordingley’s death, including her boyfriend Marco Heidenreich.

Heidenreich previously testified that he had no involvement whatsoever in Cordingley’s death.

Franklin told police he got the impression that Cordingley wanted to break up with Heidenreich.

“She was not happy. She wanted to live by herself,” Franklin said.

He agreed that he had exchanged many flirtatious text messages with Cordingley via phone and Facebook Messenger.

The jury previously heard Heidenreich had access to Cordingley’s phone and Facebook account during their relationship.

“Literally saw you five minutes ago, don’t even care. It doesn’t bother me what happened last night,” Cordingley texted to Franklin after he spent the night at her home.

The last text message Cordingley sent was to Heidenreich at 3.17pm on the day she died, informing him that she was going to pick up Franklin from Cairns airport that evening.

Franklin testified that Cordingley never showed up at the airport and he took an Uber ride home.

Heidenreich previously testified that he did not see Cordingley’s message about Franklin until hours after it was sent.

The trial is due to run for another four weeks at Cairns before Justice James Henry.

AAP