Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Australian Murder Case Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Found
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.
The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.
