Jury in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Visits Shoreline At Which Deceased Was Discovered

Jurors involved in a high-profile Queensland homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.

The remains were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Court Inspection to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three back-up jurors attended the location along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.

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

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Scene Particulars

The jurors were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.

Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been parked.

The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was given.

Context of the Trial

Previously, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.

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 community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.

The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.

Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.

The weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been found.

But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include evidence that DNA obtained from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.

The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has argued.

Defense Stance

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.

The court was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her remains were discovered.

Images showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.

The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.