🔗 Share this article

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

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.

Her body were found by her father 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 killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Court Visit to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

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

Scene Particulars

The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

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

The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no testimony was given.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.

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

Prosecution Case

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 discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.

Those items were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors allege.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found secured to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include testimony that genetic material obtained from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable 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 left the scene after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with 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.

Defense Position

"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.

The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed evidence 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 "gravest error."

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

Additional Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who gave evidence last week.

The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions 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 companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the jury, with an specialist saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.

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