🔗 Share this article

Jurors involved in a widely publicized Australian murder trial have traveled to the isolated beach where the victim was discovered.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.

Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline 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 Far North Queensland.

Jury Inspection to Beach

The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a nod to the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Location Particulars

The jurors were led around 1.2km along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been parked.

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

Context of the Case

Previously, the court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and relatives.

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

State Argument

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

The pharmacy worker was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.

Those objects were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of proof that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered 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 already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.

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

Defence Position

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged 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, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had witnessed two masked men 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 give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence previously.

The trial was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.

Images depicting the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

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