Jury in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline Where Deceased Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the victim was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy grave with minimal chance of survival, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, three children and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.
Those objects were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
Defence Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, 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 opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire 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 later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.
