Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.
The 24-year-old victim was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has been told.
Her body were found by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.
The accused, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.
Court Visit to Beach
The panel of 10 men and two women plus three back-up jurors 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, the judge opted for a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys chose polo shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.
Location Particulars
The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four red and white cones indicated where the victim's car had been left.
The trip was designed to help the panel become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was given.
Context of the Case
Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court was informed that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the state said.
Prosecution Argument
It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those items were removed by the assailant to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located tied up to a tree concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the burial site.
No murder weapon was found, and no one have been identified.
But the prosecution says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "and eliminated others."
This will involve evidence that DNA obtained from a stick at the scene was extremely more likely to have originated from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The court has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the beach after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.
Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his guilt, the prosecution has claimed.
Defence Stance
"As the police were finding Toyah's body, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he opened his case.
The defence is yet to provided testimony, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the wrong time."
He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his arrest, Mr Singh informed an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "biggest mistake."
Mr McGuire has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.
Further Testimony
Ms Cordingley's partner, the witness, whom authorities quickly ruled out as a possible suspect, was one who gave evidence last week.
The court heard he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, prior to her remains were found.
Photographs showing the witness on a hike with a companion on the day Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was confident the pictures were authentic and had not been doctored in any manner.
The case will resume to the standard environment of the courthouse on the next day.
