Jury in High-Profile Down Under Murder Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the location along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Details
The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was intended to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found tied up to a post hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Stance
"While authorities were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" 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 last week.
The trial heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, prior to her body were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.