Jury in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Trial Visits Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the remote shore where the victim was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.
Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Beach
The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo 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 traveled to the site, four red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been parked.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the trial and no testimony was given.
Background of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after 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 years after, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Case
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.
Those items were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the location was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.
The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the scene after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.
Defence Stance
"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.
The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants 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 individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.
The trial heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were found.
Images showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.
