Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Visits Beach Where Victim Was Found
Jurors involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.
Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Jury Visit to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Scene Particulars
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with her attire and most of her possessions missing.
Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, 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 DNA obtained from a object at the scene was extremely more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has argued.
Defense Position
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.
