Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member the following 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 Far North Queensland.
Court Inspection to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is alleged that the defendant, 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 assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a post hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene 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 phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has argued.
Defence Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence last week.
The trial 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 remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.