Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Case Tours Shoreline Where Deceased Was Discovered
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was located.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were discovered by a family member 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 weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Court Visit to Beach
The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Scene Particulars
The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several markers showed where the victim's car had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
State Argument
It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve testimony that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" 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 undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Additional Evidence
Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who testified previously.
The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, even before her remains were found.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.