Jury in High-Profile Australian Murder Case Visits Beach Where Victim Was Found
Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.
Her body were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Inspection to Crime Scene
The jury of 10 men and two women plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a nod to the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several markers indicated where the vehicle had been parked.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions missing.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
The weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is yet to 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 "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away 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 Evidence
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.
The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.