Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Down Under Homicide Case Tours Shoreline Where Victim Was Discovered

Wangetti Beach scene
The remains of Toyah Cordingley was discovered on a remote beach in northern Queensland in 2018.

Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has heard.

The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Court Visit to Beach

The jury of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors attended the location along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.

In a nod to the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

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

Location Details

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

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.

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

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.

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

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

Prosecution Argument

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

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

Those items were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, prosecutors allege.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located secured to a post concealed in bushland about 100 feet from the burial site.

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

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

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

The court has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.

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

Defence Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's remains, he was arranging... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he began arguments.

The defense is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer described his defendant as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."

He also hinted at evidence 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."

Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about individuals "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion.

Further Evidence

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence previously.

The court was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's disappearance, even before her body were found.

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

The case will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.

Lori Espinoza
Lori Espinoza

A tech enthusiast and writer passionate about digital trends and community building.

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