Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian homicide case have traveled to the isolated shore where the young woman was discovered.
The 24-year-old victim was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with minimal chance of survival, the jury has heard.
Her body were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Crime Scene
The jury of 10 men and two women plus three alternates attended the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on the start of the week local time.
In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley opted for a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.
Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers selected casual shirts, shorts and headwear.
Location Details
The jurors were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Earlier, as they traveled to the site, several markers showed where the vehicle had been left.
The trip was designed to help the jurors become familiar with important sites in the case and no testimony was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and parents.
He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
State Case
It is alleged that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.
Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had brought along for a stroll, was located secured to a post concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been found.
But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was comprised findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a stick 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 indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.
Defense Stance
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a rushed single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" 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 arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen two masked men attack Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."
Mr McGuire has also said he will testify about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom police quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who testified last week.
The court heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's disappearance, prior to her remains were discovered.
Photographs showing Mr Heidenreich on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any way.
The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.
