Panel of Jurors in Prominent Australian Murder Trial Visits Beach Where Victim Was Found

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

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

The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has been told.

Her body were discovered by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

The accused, 41, denies killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Visit to Crime Scene

The jury of 12 individuals plus several alternates attended the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on Monday morning local time.

In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, the judge opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Scene Details

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

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit 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 Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, family and relatives.

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

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

Prosecution Case

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

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

Those objects were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

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

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

The court has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the defendant.

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

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 previously as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial 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 testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.

Additional Testimony

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.

The trial heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, prior to her body were discovered.

Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

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

Erin Wilson
Erin Wilson

Tech enthusiast and seasoned reviewer with over a decade of experience in consumer electronics and digital trends.