Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Case Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.
Those items were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found tied up to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Stance
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.