Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was located.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings missing.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located secured to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The court heard 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 vanishing, even before her body were discovered.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.