Port Douglas police some of the first on the scene in Toyah Cordingley case
Cairns court
A more detailed picture of what happened during and immediately after Toyah Cordingley's death on Sunday, October 21, 2018, has been emerging during the first week of the retrial of accused murderer Rajwinder Singh.
Witnesses in Cairns Supreme Court outlined that, following Ms Cordingley’s partner Marco Heidenreich arriving at Wangetti Beach carpark after 9.30pm that evening, and after making a series of phone calls to Triple-0 and others, his friends Joel Cuman and Toby and Max Petrack arrived after 10.30pm and searched the carpark and beach.
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Max Petrack said he walked a couple of hundred metres northward along the beach to the mouth of a creek and saw a single set of footprints in the wet sand near the shoreline heading south.
Toby Petrack said they were at the beach for about 45 minutes before police advised them to go home.
Former officer-in-charge of Port Douglas Police Station, and current Douglas Shire councillor, Damian Meadows, told the court he received a call from Cairns Police Headquarters at about 11pm and immediately left for Wangetti Beach.
Arriving at about 11.30pm, he met up with Mr Heidenreich, who he already knew from Port Douglas.
Mr Heidenreich then went back to his Woree home, with Toyah’s father Troy Cordingley later arriving there on his motorbike, where they spoke.
After seeing Mr Heidenreich, Mr Cordingley then travelled to Wangetti to search for his daughter, while Mr Heidenreich stayed at home in case Ms Cordingley called or returned home.
Ms Cordingley’s brother Jack Gardiner also told the court his sister Leynah called him late that Sunday night, so he and his mother Vanessa Gardiner went to the Woree house as well, also speaking to Mr Heidenreich.
After daybreak, Mr Heidenreich then drove to Wangetti, where he found Ms Cordingley’s dog tied tightly to a tree.
He then drove back to Cairns and took the dog to the Sheridan Street police station, where he found out from police officer Detective Sergeant Adrian Worth that Ms Cordingley’s body had been found.
In other developments, a police digital forensic analyst told the court a series of eight photos of Mr Heidenreich and long-term friend Mr Cuman in the Spring Creek region taken between about 3.40pm and 5.10pm on the afternoon of the murder were authentic.
Mr Cuman told the court, after he finished work, he met Mr Heidenreich at his Port Douglas home about 3pm and they headed off to go hiking.
More details were also told in court about the circumstances of how Ms Heidenreich’s red heeler dog Jersey went missing.
Mr Cuman told the court he believed Jersey chased a bush turkey into the bushes.
The dog was then missing until Tuesday, October 23, when some backpackers found her in the Spring Creek region.
In terms of further clues at the crime scene, the court heard an orange glow stick was also found near the body, along with a selfie stick.
Police forensic officer Sergeant Kylie Webster also said a large patch of blood was found about 8m away, but there were no drag marks to the burial site, so it was not clear how the body was moved.
The trial of former Innisfail nurse Mr Singh will continue on Monday.
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