Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.

Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Inspection to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Location Details

The jurors were guided around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the vehicle had been left.

The visit was designed to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the trial and no testimony was presented.

Context of the Case

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.

He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.

Prosecution Case

It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community 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 avoid detection, prosecutors contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.

No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.

But the state says the evidence – 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 unrelated individual of the population.

The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device 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 suggested his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.

Defense Stance

"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.

The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away 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 suspicion.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those 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 implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.

Images depicting the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.

The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.