Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered
Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
The remains were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Crime Scene
The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Particulars
The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones showed where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Trial
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that Mr Singh, who was employed in healthcare 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 removed by the killer to conceal evidence, 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 grave.
The weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.
The jury has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Position
"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Additional Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence previously.
The trial was informed he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were discovered.
Images depicting the witness on a hike with a friend 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 doctored in any way.
The trial will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.