Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Visits Shoreline Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.
Her body were found by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was given.
Background of the Case
Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found tied up to a tree hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was extremely more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his defendant 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 told an undercover officer he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.