Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Australian Homicide Trial Visits Beach Where Deceased Was Found

Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was discovered.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.

Her body were found by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Court Visit to Crime Scene

The jury of 12 individuals plus three back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week local time.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.

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

Location Particulars

The court members were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.

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

Background of the Trial

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.

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

State Case

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

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

Those objects were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.

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

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

But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include evidence that genetic material obtained from a object 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 already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.

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

Defence Position

"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away 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.

Additional Testimony

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.

The trial heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were discovered.

Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any way.

The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on Tuesday.