The Cairns Supreme Court has heard detailed evidence on how police investigators systematically analysed car movements and mobile phone data to build their case against the man accused of murdering Toyah Cordingley at Wangetti Beach.
The Digital Trail: How Police Narrowed Down Suspect Vehicles
On day eight of the murder trial of Rajwinder Singh, the court learned that police began with a list of 219 vehicles
Sergeant Mattock was in the witness box for over three hours, detailing how he gathered images from CCTV at a crucial 'choke point' on Clifton Road from the afternoon Ms Cordingley disappeared. He compared these with timed images from Craiglea near Port Douglas, telling prosecutor Nathan Crane that some vehicles were eliminated because 'there was no time to stop at Wangetti for a murder and get back in the car.'
Key Evidence Presented in Court
The 41-year-old nurse, Rajwinder Singh, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley, who vanished while walking her dog at Wangetti Beach on October 21, 2018. Her body was discovered by her father in a sand mound the following day, with the court hearing she had been stabbed and her throat cut.
Much of the eighth day's evidence focused on the technical investigation into vehicle movements south of Wangetti Beach. Sergeant Mattock explained how timing advance data - which analyses phone signal, base station, and connection timing with phone tower antennas - helped determine that Ms Cordingley's phone was moving away from the alleged murder scene.
'We were trying to identify any vehicles that travelled consistently with the handset based on timing advance,' Sergeant Mattock told the court.
The original list of 219 vehicles was narrowed to 70 that passed Clifton Beach between 5:02pm and 5:07pm. Police circulated images of these vehicles through media appeals, with some drivers coming forward while others remained unknown. By the end of the day, Sergeant Mattock was showing the jury images of a blue Alfa Romeo similar to Mr Singh's vehicle, noting it had not been eliminated from their inquiries.
Witness Accounts from Wangetti Beach
Several witnesses who visited Wangetti Beach on the day of the alleged murder also gave evidence. Cairns woman Merinda Bong testified that she went to the beach with friend Ford Jia to collect pippis and go fishing, arriving around 2pm.
Ms Bong described seeing a 'dark guy' in the southern carpark whom she initially thought was Indigenous. 'I went to say hello and that's when I realised he was Indian, not Aboriginal or Islander,' she told the court. The man was wearing a long cream shirt, long pants, a dark cap, and dark glasses.
She said the same man was staring at her and her friend later, making her feel uncomfortable enough to suggest they move on. However, her friend Mr Jia recalled seeing three men, all Caucasian, with one having 'white gingery' hair and breathing raggedly 'like he had been on a run.'
Other witnesses included Brett Liddell and Nicola Hatt, who visited the beach around 4:30pm to collect rocks. Mr Liddell noticed two men on the beach, one walking north to south with a camera who didn't acknowledge his greeting.
Tourist Bradley Jack, holidaying from Tambourine in southeast Queensland, described seeing a white ute and a Lancer in the southern carpark around 4:40pm. When his family returned hours later after grocery shopping, the ute was gone but the Lancer remained.
The Seven-Hour Gap in Phone Records
The court heard earlier evidence that Rajwinder Singh's phone stopped connecting to the internet for seven hours on the afternoon Toyah Cordingley died. Optus representative Daniel Qamar testified that Mr Singh's mobile phone internet metadata records showed regular activity until 1:16pm on October 21, 2018, after which the records stopped until resuming at 8:15pm that evening.
Mr Qamar explained possible reasons for this gap included the battery running out, the device being put on flight mode, turned off, or data manually switched off by the user. The court also heard that Mr Singh's call records showed he contacted Innisfail Hospital, where he worked in 2018, on Sunday night and Monday morning, along with calls to his friend Rajkaran Singh.
The trial continues before Justice Lincoln Crowley QC as prosecutors continue to present their case against the accused murderer.
