Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in 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 repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline 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 Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Details
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones showed where the vehicle had been parked.
The visit was intended to help the panel become familiar with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has argued.
Defence Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place 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 attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who testified previously.
The trial heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.