Jury in Prominent Australian Homicide Trial Visits Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered

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

The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has been told.

The remains were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

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

Court Visit to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.

Location Details

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

Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been parked.

The visit was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was given.

Context of the Trial

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.

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

State Argument

It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.

The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings missing.

Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.

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

No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been found.

But the state says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will involve evidence that genetic material recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.

The jury has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has claimed.

Defence Stance

"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."

The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Evidence

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified previously.

The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's disappearance, even before her remains were found.

Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.

The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.