Canberra: An Indian-origin man in Queensland, Australia, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of a 24-year-old woman on a beach in 2018. According to a report by ABC News on Tuesday, the Supreme Court in Cairns on Monday found former nurse Rajwinder Singh, 41, guilty of the murder of Toyah Cordingly.
The report said that Justice Lincoln Crowley described Singh's motive for the murder as unknown, calling it an opportunistic killing.
According to a report by 'The Guardian' on Tuesday, Singh killed Cordingly on October 21, 2018, while she was walking her dog at Wangeti Beach, north of Cairns. Cordingly worked at a health, food and pharmacy store in Port Douglas and was also a volunteer at an animal shelter.
Singh left his wife, children and parents in Australia after the murder and fled to India. ABC News quoted Crowley as saying, "You left without saying goodbye to your wife, your parents, your children properly, it shows that your only concern was to save your life, no matter what the consequences for your family."
The report said Singh was sentenced to a non-parole period of 25 years, seven years after Cordingley's murder. He was extradited from India two years after Queensland Police announced a reward of 1 million Australian dollars for information on him, according to the report.