🔗 Share this article

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

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy resting place 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, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Visit to Beach

The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.

In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Scene Particulars

The jurors were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.

The visit was intended to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was presented.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and parents.

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

State Case

It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

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

Those objects were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, the prosecution contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located secured to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include testimony that DNA recovered from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable 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 departed the beach after the incident – and that its movements corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has claimed.

Defence Stance

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

The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his arrest, 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 "gravest error."

The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.

Further Evidence

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.

The court heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her body were discovered.

Photographs depicting the witness on a walk with a friend on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

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