Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Beach At Which Deceased Was Found
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were discovered by her father 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 weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court 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 nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located secured to a tree 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 crown's case – though indirect – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.