Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Visits Shoreline 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 located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The jurors were guided around 1.2km north up the sand 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 parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution 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 discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those items were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located secured to a tree concealed in bushland about 30 metres 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 made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has argued.
Defense Stance
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is has not 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 unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further 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 court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.
Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.