Jury in High-Profile Australian Murder Case Tours Shoreline At Which Deceased Was Found
Jurors involved in a high-profile Queensland murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was presented.
Context of the Case
Last week, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those items were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that DNA obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The court has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has claimed.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen 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 give evidence about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The court was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, even before her body were discovered.
Images showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.