Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with little or no hope of surviving, the court has heard.
The remains were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Visit to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Particulars
The court members were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located secured to a tree 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 crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.
The trial heard he was an immediate 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 body were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.
