Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the remote beach where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a shallow grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following 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 northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The panel of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors visited the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Particulars
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 victim's car had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, 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 confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and most of her possessions missing.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants 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 investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The trial 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 girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her remains were found.
Images showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.