Jury in Prominent Down Under Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the remote shore where the young woman was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Details
The jurors were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Case
Previously, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body 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 state 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 confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and most of her possessions missing.
Those items were removed 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 hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The court has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at evidence 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 "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.
The trial was informed 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 disappearance, prior to her remains were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.
