Witness denies ‘murder porn’ link to beach death
A man who claims he had a brief affair with Toyah Cordingley in the days before her death denies he posted her details on a “murder porn” website.
Rajwinder Singh has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to the murder of Cordingley, 24, at an isolated far north Queensland beach on October 22, 2018.
Cordingley drove to Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, for a Sunday afternoon walk with her dog on October 21, 2018 and never returned.
She was found early the next morning buried in the sand on the beach with multiple stab wounds and her throat cut.
On Thursday, Tyson Franklin testified he had a sexual encounter with Cordingley earlier that month after he gave her a podiatry assessment.
Franklin said he had “feelings for her” and believed the pair had “chemistry”.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Brydie Bilic, Franklin admitted that during the brief affair he used a file-sharing website to access “murder porn”.
“You were accessing murder porn and rape porn on this website?” Bilic asked.
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“Yes,” Franklin replied.
He agreed the website was used by anonymous people to exchange depraved material.
“Did you share any information about Toyah Cordingley on this website?” Bilic asked.
“No,” Franklin said.
Franklin testified that he told police Cordingley wanted to leave her boyfriend.
Lead defence barrister Angus Edwards previously told the jury there were other potential suspects in Cordingley’s death, including her boyfriend Marco Heidenreich.
Heidenreich previously testified he had no involvement in Cordingley’s death.
Franklin admitted lying to police on October 22, 2018, when he said the pair had not been physically intimate.
He said he had spent the night at Cordingley’s home on October 14 and left early on October 15.
“You lied about your relationship?” Bilic said.
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“I didn’t tell it in full,” Franklin said.
He told police he got the impression Cordingley wanted to break up with Heidenreich.
“She was not happy. She wanted to live by herself,” Franklin said.
He agreed he had exchanged many flirtatious text messages with Cordingley via phone and Facebook Messenger.
The jury previously heard Heidenreich had access to Cordingley’s phone and Facebook account during their relationship.
“Literally saw you five minutes ago, don’t even care. It doesn’t bother me what happened last night,” Cordingley texted to Franklin after he spent the night at her home.
The last message Cordingley sent was to Heidenreich at 3.17pm on the day she died, telling him she was going to pick up Franklin from Cairns airport that night.
Franklin testified Cordingley never showed up, and he caught an Uber ride home.
Heidenreich previously testified he did not see Cordingley’s message about Franklin until hours after it was sent.
On Thursday, the jury heard testimony from police forensic officer Sergeant Kylie Webster.
She was brought in to remove sand from Cordingley’s body and take DNA samples.
Webster agreed with crown prosecutor Nathan Crane that Cordingley was found wearing a bikini top that was originally white with a flower pattern but was red with blood.
“There were four [damaged areas] on the left cup and one on the right cup,” Webster said.
Under cross-examination from Edwards, Webster agreed Cordingley’s body could have spent a long time lying on the beach in a nearby area where blood had soaked into the sand.
The alleged murder weapon has never been found.
The trial will resume on Monday and go for another three weeks at Cairns before Justice James Henry.
