Singh's barrister, Saul Holt KC, told the three-judge appeal panel that the murder was "without associated offending" and that the 25-year non-parole period imposed by the trial judge was excessive compared to the standard 20-year minimum. As Holt made these submissions, Cordingley's mother, Vanessa Gardiner, could be seen crying and holding her head in her hands.
The appeal also challenged the conduct of the original trial. Holt argued that the trial judge, Justice Lincoln Crowley, made a fundamental error by dismissing a juror, referred to as juror 5, without further investigation after receiving a note from another juror alleging misconduct. "What was in that note could not be accepted without further inquiry. Something needed to be done," Holt submitted. He claimed the failure to investigate risked creating a perception that any juror could be removed simply by writing a note about another.
Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions, Todd Fuller KC, countered that the note's contents were read to the jury without complaint. He argued that conducting an inquiry risked compromising the independence of the jury and that there was "no irregularity on the part of the judge acting on the note without further inquiry".
A second ground of appeal related to a site visit to Wangetti Beach, where the murder occurred. The defence argued that jurors broke into small groups during the excursion, potentially compromising their ability to receive the same information and impacting their understanding of the evidence. The prosecution maintained that while some physical separation occurred, the jurors remained under the court's control at all times.
Toyah Cordingley, 24, was stabbed and had her throat cut while walking her dog on Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, on October 21, 2018. Her body was found buried in the sand the following day. Rajwinder Singh, a former nurse from Innisfail, was found guilty by a jury in the Cairns Supreme Court in December 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 25 years. The Court of Appeal has not yet handed down its decision.