- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Investigation into the murder of an Australian woman allegedly by an Indian-origin man in Queensland in 2018 has revealed that the accused took the extreme step after her dog barked at him.
The victim, Toyah Cordingley, 24 then, was walking her pet at Wangetti Beach in the north of Cairns in the north-western province Down Under when the incident happened, investigators said.
The accused, Rajwinder Singh, a nurse by profession, had gone to the beach carrying a knife and some fruits after having an argument with his wife at home.
Quoting investigators, the Indian Express reported that Singh was infuriated when Cordingley’s dog barked at him and it led to a argument and Singh, 38, allegedly stabbed the animal’s owner multiple times, buried her body in the sane, and tied the dog to a tree before returning home in the town of Innisfail.
Soon after, Singh, an Australian citizen of Indian origin, fled the country and the local authorities announced a bounty of a million Australian dollar on him. The man left his family back Down Under.
On Friday (25), Singh was arrested by the police in New Delhi and produced before a court for extradition to Australia.
“He was not in touch with his wife or kids. His parents live in Punjab but we have found that he was not in touch with them either. He was frequently changing his hideouts in Punjab and Delhi. He was in transit in North Delhi when our team arrested him. He changed his look to evade arrest. He is being questioned and produced before the court,” the Express quoted a police source as saying.
After Singh’s arrest, Queensland police commissioner Katarina Carroll told the media: “Toyah was reported missing in October 2018 before her body was tragically discovered at Wangetti Beach, North of Cairns…The man (Singh) was believed to be avoiding apprehension in the Punjab region in India since travelling to the country on October 23, 2018… Even though it’s been four years, I am so pleased we can now make further progress in bringing closure to her family. It was never a question of if, only when this day would come.” (sic)
