Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Jurors overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The court members were led around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial 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 "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The court was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her remains were found.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.