Jury in Prominent Australian Murder Case Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Jurors involved in a high-profile Queensland murder trial have traveled to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Location Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged 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 most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a tree concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding 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 yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities 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 girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were found.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.