Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Tours Beach Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones 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 official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men 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 "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, prior to her remains were found.
Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.