Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Murder Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Visit to Beach
The panel of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Particulars
The jurors were guided around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several markers showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented.
Background of the Case
Previously, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.
Those objects were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, 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 grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that DNA obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The court has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution 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 previously as he opened his case.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also hinted at evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed 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 body were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.