Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Queensland murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Visit to Crime Scene
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has already heard testimony 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 accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Stance
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – 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.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.
The court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.
Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.