Jury in High-Profile Australian Murder Trial Visits Beach At Which Victim Was Found

Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was located.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the jury has heard.

The remains were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

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 legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Scene Details

The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones showed where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit was intended to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.

He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.

State Case

It is alleged that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The victim was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.

Those items were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located secured to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the burial site.

The weapon was found, and no one have been identified.

But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will involve testimony that DNA obtained 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 population.

The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.

Defense Position

"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.

The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described 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 apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Evidence

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified previously.

The court heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her remains were discovered.

Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.