Jury in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated beach where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach β a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres 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.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India β abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings missing.
Those objects were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located tied up to a post hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case β though circumstantial β was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing β and that its movements matched those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defence Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear β 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 partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest β and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, prior to her body were discovered.
Photographs depicting the witness on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.
