🔗 Share this article

Jurors involved in a high-profile Queensland homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a shallow grave with minimal chance of survival, the court has heard.

The remains were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Inspection to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates attended the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

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

Location Particulars

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

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

The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.

Background of the Case

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.

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

Prosecution Argument

It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The victim was found wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.

Those objects were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was found tied up to a post hidden in bushland about 30 metres from the grave.

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

But the prosecution says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will involve testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the defendant.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the state has argued.

Defence Stance

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."

He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an undercover officer 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 give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.

The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were discovered.

Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the photos were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.

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