🔗 Share this article

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

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a shallow resting place with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.

The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

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

Court Visit to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.

Scene Particulars

The jurors 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, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.

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

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and parents.

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

Prosecution Argument

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

The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings absent.

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

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

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

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

This will include testimony that DNA obtained from a stick at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

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

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

Defense Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.

The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."

He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.

The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.

Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.

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