Jury in Prominent Down Under Murder Case Visits Beach Where Deceased Was Found
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following 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 killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Beach
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 in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were led around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four markers showed where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was presented.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
State 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 victim was discovered wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found secured to a tree concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the location was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left 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 involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had seen two masked men attack 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.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified previously.
The trial heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.
