Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Tours Shoreline Where Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has been told.
The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Visit to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Details
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a tree hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed 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 give evidence about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.
The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.
Images depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.