Jury in Prominent Down Under Murder Case Tours Beach At Which Victim Was Found

Wangetti Beach scene
The remains of Toyah Cordingley were found on a remote coastline in northern Queensland in 2018.

Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow resting place 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 stretch of shoreline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

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

Jury Inspection to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, sport shorts and trainers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and baseball caps.

Scene Particulars

The court members were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

Earlier, as they arrived by bus, four markers showed where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit was designed to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.

Context of the Trial

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.

He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.

Court officials at the beach
The judge with legal representatives and other court officials at Wangetti Beach.

State Case

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

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

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

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

No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.

But the prosecution says the crown's case – though indirect – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a object at the location was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.

The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the accused.

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

Defence Stance

"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a rushed 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, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

He also hinted at evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."

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

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, even before her remains were found.

Images depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley disappeared have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.

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

Mark Williams
Mark Williams

Elara is a passionate hiker and writer who documents her wilderness expeditions and shares insights on sustainable travel.