Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, 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 conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up 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 state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence suggesting 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 defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled 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.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who testified previously.
The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her remains were found.
Photographs depicting the witness on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.