Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Found

Members of the jury involved in a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the court has been told.

The remains were discovered by a family member the following 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 weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Court Visit to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.

In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Location Particulars

The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

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

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

Background of the Trial

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.

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

Prosecution Case

It is alleged 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 absent.

Those objects were taken by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located secured to a tree hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.

The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.

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

This will include testimony that DNA obtained 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 already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the state has argued.

Defence Stance

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.

The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed 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 two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."

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 boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified last week.

The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.

Images showing the witness on a walk with a companion 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 altered in any manner.

The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.