Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Murder Trial Visits Beach Where Victim Was Found
Jurors overseeing a high-profile Queensland homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the court has been told.
Her body were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no testimony was given.
Background of the Case
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town 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 objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a tree hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has argued.
Defence Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.
The trial was informed 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 girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her body were discovered.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.