Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Trial Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.
The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors attended the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the vehicle had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
State Argument
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 all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.
The court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.
Photographs depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.