The trial of a man accused of murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley on a beach in Far North Queensland has been delayed days before it was due to start.
The trial of a man accused of murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingley on a beach in Far North Queensland has been delayed days before it was due to start.
Rajwinder Singh was due to face trial before Judge James Henry in the Supreme Court in Cairns from Monday.
But the proceedings were delayed until February during a pre-trial hearing on Thursday.
This came after Singh’s legal team requested an adjournment to assess the evidence, some of which had not yet been disclosed, Judge Henry said in notes sent to media.
Ms Cordingley was found partially buried by her father at Wangetti Beach near Cairns in October 2018, a day after she was reported missing.
The pharmacy worker and animal shelter volunteer had driven to the popular beach for a Sunday afternoon stroll with her dog.
Singh, a nurse, was arrested in New Delhi four years later.
Police believe he flew to India shortly after Cordingley’s body was found, leaving his wife and children in Innisfail, near Cairns.
Ms Cordingley was found partially buried by her father at Wangetti Beach near Cairns in October 2018, a day after she was reported missing.
Rajwinder Singh was due to face trial before Judge James Henry in the Supreme Court in Cairns from Monday.
He was extradited to Australia and charged with murder in March 2023.
Judge Henry said the case was circumstantial and there was no direct evidence that Singh was the killer.
‘In a circumstantial case it is necessary not only that the evidence be sufficient to sustain the inference of guilt, but also that it be sufficient to exclude any reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence.
“In the present case, the defence will be well entitled to rely on relevant evidence to try to support the hypothesis, consistent with Mr Singh’s innocence, that another person was the murderer,” Judge Henry said.
A different lawyer was acting for Singh during the prosecution process in the magistrates’ court when the material should have been requested.
Judge Henry said continuing proceedings next week would be so grossly unfair that, if convicted, it would be overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered.
“This decision may be seen as a worrying development, but it pales in comparison to the injustice of going ahead with the trial listing when such a trial would not be fair given the issues I have identified,” he said.