Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were discovered by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a casual top, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Case
Previously, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was not heard from 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 victim was discovered wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.
The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – 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.
Images showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.