Jury in High-Profile Down Under Murder Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the remote shore where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a shallow 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 coastline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was out of contact 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 community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was located tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to 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 probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.
Images depicting the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.
