Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Found

Wangetti Beach scene
The body of Toyah Cordingley were found on a secluded coastline in northern Queensland in 2018.

Jurors involved in a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the victim was located.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a sandy grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.

Her body were found by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline 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.

Jury Visit to Beach

The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning local time.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, the judge wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.

Scene Particulars

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

Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, several markers showed where the victim's car had been left.

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

Context of the Trial

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and relatives.

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

Court officials at the beach
Justice Lincoln Crowley with barristers and other personnel at Wangetti Beach.

State Case

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

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.

Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located tied up to a tree concealed in bushland about 30 metres from the burial site.

The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.

But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

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

The court has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the accused.

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

Defense Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – 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 suspicion.

Additional Testimony

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

The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.

Images showing the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented 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 more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.

Courtney Saunders MD
Courtney Saunders MD

Elara is a seasoned betting analyst with a passion for data-driven strategies and casino gaming insights.