Panel of Jurors in High-Profile Australian Homicide Case Tours Shoreline At Which Deceased Was Discovered

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

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated beach where the victim was located.

The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the court has been told.

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

The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Visit to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several alternates visited the beach along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.

In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

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

Scene Details

The court members were led around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

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

The trip was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no testimony was given.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.

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

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

Prosecution Argument

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

The victim was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.

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

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located tied up to a post hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.

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

But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of proof that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will include testimony that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was 3.8 billion times more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The court has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the accused.

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

Defense Stance

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case.

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."

Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, 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 implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were found.

Photographs depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.

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

Tracy Becker
Tracy Becker

A passionate sports journalist with over a decade of experience covering major leagues and events worldwide.