Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Discovered

Wangetti Beach scene
The remains of Toyah Cordingley were found on a remote coastline in Far North Queensland in 2018.

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Queensland murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was located.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has been told.

Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline 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 northern Australia.

Court Inspection to Crime Scene

The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates visited the location along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.

In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Location Details

The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.

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

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

Context of the Trial

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

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

Court officials at the beach
The judge with legal representatives and other personnel at Wangetti Beach.

Prosecution Argument

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

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions missing.

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

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was found secured to a tree concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.

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

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

This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.

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

Defence Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.

The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.

Further Evidence

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

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.

Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been altered in any way.

The trial will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.

Jodi Franco
Jodi Franco

Tech enthusiast and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in emerging technologies and startup ecosystems.

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