Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Visits Beach At Which Victim Was Found
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have been taken to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Visit to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was designed to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the state said.
State Argument
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 pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA obtained from a stick at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.
The trial was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, even before her body were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.
