Members of the jury involved in a widely publicized Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was located.
Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
The remains were found by her father the following 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 weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.
Jury Visit to Crime Scene
The jury of 12 individuals plus several back-up jurors visited the beach along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the prosecuting and defence barristers chose casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Details
The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was intended to help the panel become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Trial
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, three children and parents.
He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The victim was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings absent.
Those objects were taken by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a walk, was located secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.
No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been identified.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised proof that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will include evidence that genetic material recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has argued.
Defense Position
"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he opened his case.
The defense 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 "wrong place at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come later in the trial that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire 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, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a person of interest, was among those who gave evidence last week.
The trial was informed he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her remains were discovered.
Photographs depicting the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing 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 trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.
