Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Visits Beach At Which Deceased Was Discovered
Members of the jury involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones showed where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was arrested years after, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is alleged that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings 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 stroll, was found secured to a tree hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial heard 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 disappearance, prior to her body were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.
