Jury in High-Profile Australian Murder Case Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Found

Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal hope of surviving, the jury has heard.

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

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Court Inspection to Beach

The jury of 10 men and two women plus three back-up jurors visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Scene Details

The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been parked.

The visit was designed to help the panel become familiar with important sites in the trial and no testimony was presented.

Context of the Trial

Previously, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and parents.

He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the state said.

State Argument

It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.

Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found tied up to a tree concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.

No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.

But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the prosecution has argued.

Defense Stance

"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.

The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer 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 other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.

The trial was informed 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 girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were found.

Images depicting the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any way.

The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.