Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline Where Deceased Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Visit to Beach
The panel of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors attended the beach 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 T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the vehicle had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that Mr Singh, 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 swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a object at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.
The trial heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were discovered.
Images showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.
