Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
The remains were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Details
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a post hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that DNA obtained from a stick at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Stance
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who testified previously.
The court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, even before her remains were discovered.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.
