🔗 Share this article

Jurors overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has been told.

The remains were found by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Jury Visit to Crime Scene

The jury of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.

Location Particulars

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

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

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

Context of the Trial

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and parents.

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

State Case

It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with her attire and belongings missing.

Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located tied up to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will include testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.

The jury has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.

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

Defense Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.

The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."

Mr McGuire has also said he will testify 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 person of interest, was among those who testified 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 involved in his girlfriend's disappearance, prior to her remains were found.

Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an specialist 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.