Jury in High-Profile Down Under Murder Trial Visits Shoreline Where Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Details
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented.
Context of the Case
Previously, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings missing.
Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Stance
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week 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 defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – 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 suspicion.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.
The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the date 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 altered in any manner.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.
