Jury in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose polo shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions missing.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defence Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen 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 individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her remains were found.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.