Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Murder Trial Tours Beach Where Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the remote beach where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow resting place with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Location Details
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was intended to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Case
Last week, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a post hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack 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 other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence last week.
The court was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, prior to her body were found.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.