Jury in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
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 victim was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.
The trial 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 partner's disappearance, even before her body were discovered.
Photographs depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.
