🔗 Share this article

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

The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has been told.

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

Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Court Inspection to Crime Scene

The panel of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear.

Scene Details

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

Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several red and white cones showed where the victim's car had been left.

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

Context of the Case

Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.

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

State Argument

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

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

Those objects were taken by the killer to avoid detection, prosecutors contend.

Her pet, 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 ever recovered, and no one have been identified.

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

This will involve testimony 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 jury has already heard evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's phone departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel corresponded with 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.

Defence Position

"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.

The defence is yet to present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney the lawyer portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."

The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Evidence

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

The court 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 partner's vanishing, even before her body were found.

Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any manner.

The case will resume to the standard environment of the courtroom on the next day.