Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Homicide Trial Tours Shoreline At Which Victim Was Discovered

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no chance of survival, the court has been told.

The remains were discovered by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline 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.

Jury Inspection to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, shorts and headwear.

Scene Details

The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were uncovered.

Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the case and no official evidence was presented.

Context of the Trial

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

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

Prosecution Case

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

The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.

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

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

The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.

But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will include testimony that DNA obtained from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.

The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.

Defense Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.

The defense is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."

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 attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.

The trial 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 partner's disappearance, even before her body were discovered.

Images depicting Mr Heidenreich 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 authentic and had not been doctored in any way.

The trial will return to the standard environment of the courtroom on Tuesday.