Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.
The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section 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 northern Australia.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material 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 previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The court was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were found.
Photographs depicting the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.