Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline Where Deceased Was Found
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have been taken to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has heard.
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.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Inspection to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four markers showed where the vehicle had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were taken by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously 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 defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – 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.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence last week.
The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her body were found.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.