Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Tours Beach At Which Deceased Was Found

Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the young woman was located.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.

Her body were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Court Inspection to Beach

The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms 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 body were uncovered.

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.

The trip was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no testimony was given.

Background of the Case

Previously, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.

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

State Case

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

The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.

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

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised proof that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will include evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.

The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the state has argued.

Defence Stance

"While authorities were finding Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.

The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."

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

Additional Evidence

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

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – 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.

Images depicting the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.

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