Jury in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Visits Beach At Which Deceased Was Found
Jurors overseeing a high-profile Queensland homicide case have been taken to the remote beach where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member the following 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 murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was presented.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the state said.
State Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA obtained from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The court was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were found.
Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist 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 the next day.
