Jury in High-Profile Down Under Murder Case Tours Shoreline Where Deceased Was Found

Wangetti Beach scene
The body of Toyah Cordingley were found on a secluded beach in Far North Queensland back in 2018.

Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Queensland murder trial have traveled to the isolated beach where the young woman was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and buried in a shallow resting place with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.

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

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

Court Inspection to Crime Scene

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

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the prosecuting and defence barristers selected polo shirts, shorts and headwear.

Location Particulars

The court members were guided around 1.2km along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.

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

The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the case and no official evidence was given.

Background of the Case

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives.

He was out of contact until he was apprehended four years later, the state said.

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

State Argument

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

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.

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

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found secured to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

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

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

This will include testimony that genetic material recovered 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 evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has argued.

Defense Stance

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

The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also foreshadowed testimony to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "biggest mistake."

The defense attorney has also said he will testify about other people "identified and unidentified" who should come under investigation.

Additional Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was one who testified last week.

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – 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 depicting the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.

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

Dana Jones
Dana Jones

A dedicated eSports journalist with a passion for competitive gaming and community building.