🔗 Share this article Jury in High-Profile Australian Murder Case Tours Beach Where Victim Was Found The body of Toyah Cordingley was discovered on a remote beach in Far North Queensland back in 2018. Jurors overseeing a widely publicized Australian murder trial have been taken to the isolated shore where the victim was located. Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a bladed weapon and placed in a sandy grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told. Her body 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 northern Australia. Court Inspection to Crime Scene The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and legal counsel on Monday morning local time. In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a casual top, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire. Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose polo shirts, bottoms and headwear. Scene Particulars The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered. Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several markers showed where the vehicle had been parked. The trip was designed to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the case and no testimony was presented. Context of the Case Last week, the court was informed that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – abandoning his wife, family and relatives. He was out of contact until he was apprehended years after, the state said. The judge with barristers and other court officials at Wangetti Beach. Prosecution Argument It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley. The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent. Those items were taken by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution contend. 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 eyewitnesses have been identified. But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others." This will involve testimony that genetic material recovered from a stick at the location was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population. The court has previously been told testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle owned by the defendant. Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his guilt, the prosecution has claimed. Defence Position "While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he opened his case. The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire described his client as a "placid" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the wrong time." He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed 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 "identified and unidentified" who should come under suspicion. Further Evidence Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week. The court heard he was an immediate person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were discovered. Images depicting 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 confident the photos were genuine and had not been doctored in any way. The trial will return to the standard environment of the courthouse on Tuesday.