Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.
Location Particulars
The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, family and parents.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
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 absent.
Those items were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located tied up to a post concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has already heard evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the killing – 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 claimed.
Defense Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.
The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" 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 arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.