Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Murder Case Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the remote shore where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, 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 casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was designed to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Background of the Case
Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said.
State Argument
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, 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 brought along for a stroll, was located secured to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Position
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police 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 parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her body were found.
Images depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.