Prosecutors have concluded their case in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Toyah Cordingley in October 2018. The court on Monday heard from an expert who said DNA markers found on her body matched Mr Singh's.
Ms Cordingley, 24, was found buried in sand at Wangetti Beach in Far North Queensland, the morning after she went there to walk her Husky-Tibetan mastiff cross. Former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh, 41, is standing trial at the Supreme Court in Cairns.
Among the final witnesses was Ms Cordingley's close friend Megan Pritchard, who told the court that Ms Cordingley would not have tied her dog Indie so tightly to a tree that it could not sit down. Indie was found inland, tied tightly to a tree, and Ms Cordingley's mother needed help untying the lead.
Earlier, the court heard specialist forensic testing found a DNA sample on Ms Cordingley's fingernail matched genetic markers on Mr Singh's Y-chromosome. Scientist Jayshree Patel from the New Zealand Institute of Public Health and Forensic Science said that on one test, 26 of 27 markers matched, and on a second test, all 27 matched. She said the DNA could not have originated from Ms Cordingley's boyfriend.
Under cross-examination, Ms Patel said she could not determine where on the fingernail the DNA was from. The defence also questioned Detective Sergeant Gary Hall about whether police followed up on cars and people seen near the beach on the day of the alleged murder, and about investigations into another man, Joshua James Richards, who was convicted of murder the week before over a property dispute.
