Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the popular destinations 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 Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four markers indicated where the vehicle had been parked.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.
Those objects were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was extremely more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has argued.
Defence Stance
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away 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 investigation.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.
The court 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 partner's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown 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 return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.
