Panel of Jurors in Prominent Down Under Homicide Case Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the victim was located.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.

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.

The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Jury Visit to Beach

The panel of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.

In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Location Details

The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones showed where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.

Background of the Trial

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.

He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.

State Argument

It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

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

Those items were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.

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

No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.

But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the population.

The court has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the state has claimed.

Defense Stance

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.

The defence is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

The defense attorney 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 excluded as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence last week.

The trial was informed 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 girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were discovered.

Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.