Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were found by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors attended the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Particulars
The jurors were guided around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four markers showed where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury 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 blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who testified last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her body were discovered.
Images showing the witness on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.