Jury in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Deceased Was Found
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations 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 Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was intended to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Case
Previously, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
State Argument
It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.
Those items were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, 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 one have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the scene was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
Defence Stance
"While authorities were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen 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 individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.
