Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
The remains were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, three children and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
State Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The court has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault 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 other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, 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 partner's disappearance, even before her body were found.
Images depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.