Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Tours Beach Where Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.
The remains were discovered by her father the next 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 murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers indicated where the vehicle had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged 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 discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a tree concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who testified last week.
The court was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.