Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors attended the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the vehicle had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the trial and no testimony was given.
Background of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The court has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defence Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed 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 terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her body were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.
