Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several alternates attended the location 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 casual top, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were guided around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach 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 prosecution has argued.
Defence Position
"While authorities 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 yet to present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed 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 "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.