Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
The remains were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Details
The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the state 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 victim was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a tree concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was extremely more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – 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 argued.
Defence Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane 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 "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently 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 "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Images showing the witness on a hike with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.