Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Australian Murder Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Found
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the remote shore where the victim was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Particulars
The jurors were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The visit was intended to help the panel become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Case
Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
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 located secured to a post hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the scene was extremely more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
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, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her body were found.
Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.