Jury inspects locations where Toyah’s dog was tied up and her body found during crime scene view

The jury tasked with returning a verdict in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Toyah Cordingley in 2018, has visited Wangetti Beach to “view” where she was buried.

The jury on the murder trial of Toyah Cordingley has visited Wangetti Beach, 40 kilometres north of Cairns. A witch’s hat on the treeline marks the spot where Ms Cordingley was found in a shallow sand grave. Picture: Brendan Radke

The jury tasked with returning a verdict in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Toyah Cordingley in 2018, has visited Wangetti Beach to “view” where she was buried.

The 12-person jury of eight men and four women, and the three men who are reserve jurors, made the trip to the Far North Queensland beach by bus, accompanied by the court bailiff and a police escort car.

Several police officers were also on scene, marking out key locations along the beach and carparks, and ensuring the safety of the jury and scene.

Justice James Henry and his associate, the defence team, and the prosecutions team made their way to the beach separately.

Defendant Rajwinder Singh did not attend.

Justice James Henry, pictured with defence and prosecution counsel, speaks about the purpose of the 'view' at Wangetti Beach in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Toyah Cordingley on October 21, 2019.

Justice Henry addressed the jurors on their arrival in the southern Wangetti Beach carpark, explaining the view itself was not “evidence”, but its purpose was to provide “context”.

“It is not for information gathering but for context to aid you in consideration of the evidence,” Justice Henry said.

Justice Henry explained the landscape of the beach would have changed in the six years since Ms Cordingley’s body was found about 1.2km north of the southern carpark.

“(The view) is to give you a better appreciation of the beach environment and the carpark, and the general scale,” Justice Henry said.

“You’ll get a sense of where the dog was found and where the body was found.”

Justice Henry told jurors they could refer to photographs taken at the scene at the time – which had been admitted as exhibits in the trial – to view and compare with the current landscape, and to aid their understanding of the evidence.

Justice Henry told jurors they would be stopping to look at six locations during the view: the southern carpark where Ms Cordingley’s car was parked; the southern creek area a few hundred metres north; the spot where Ms Cordingley’s dog, Indie, was found; the place where Ms Cordingley’s body was found about 1.2km from the carpark; the Hartley Creek area of the beach towards the northern carpark; and the northern carpark.

The jury walked about 4km along the beach during the view.

Markers are used to show the location of Toyah Cordingley's car in the southern Wangetti Beach carpark on the day she died, October 21, 2018. Jurors attended a view during the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to her murder.

Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the jury several witnesses would soon be called who would speak about what they saw and did in both the northern and southern carparks on the day of Ms Cordingley’s death – October 21, 2018.

The court has earlier been told that Ms Cordingley’s dog, Indie, was tied up so tightly to a tree the dog could not sit down.

When Indie was found by Ms Cordingley’s mother on the morning of October 22, 2018, other family members made a teepee out of driftwood on the beach to mark the location, the court was told.

Ms Cordingley’s father Troy also told the court earlier in the trial that he found his daughter’s body a short distance away from where Indie had been tied up.

He said he had stopped to rest at a shady spot at the edge of the beach scrub, near sand dunes, while he waited for a police officer who had just arrived at the scene to reach his location.

A ‘view’ of Wangetti Beach has been held for the jury in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to murder. Witch’s hats on the treeline mark the spot where Ms Cordingley’s body was buried. Picture: Brendan Radke

He told the court he looked down and noticed a strange-shaped mound and began gently scooping away sand.

On the third scoop, he exposed the foot of his daughter, he said in court.

The court was told the police officer reached him around that time he exposed his daughter’s foot in the shallow grave where she had been buried in a sand dune.

During evidence this week, the police officers leading the search operations have described the complexity and extent of the “evidentiary search” that followed the discovery of Ms Cordingley’s body.

Search co-ordinator Senior Constable Carl Bishop said around 20-30 SES volunteers helped to comb the beach, dunes and bush along Wangetti Beach for five days after the discovery of Ms Cordingley’s body.

Some volunteers and officers worked “shoulder-to-shoulder” doing line searches through the bush back from the beach, and others searched the open beach and dunes, he said.

The site on Wangetti Beach where Ms Cordingley's body was buried in a shallow grave in the sand, as marked for a ‘view’ by the jury in the trial of Rajwinder Singh, 40, for murder. Picture: Brendan Radke

Blood dogs were brought up from Brisbane to assist, and police officers worked on foot and quad bikes, Senior Constable Bishop said.

Very few “items of interest” were found, he said, but Ms Cordingley’s selfie stick was found on the beach not far from her body.

Brisbane-based police diver Senior Constable Matthew Guitman said most of the waterways searched during the police investigation were crocodile country and the team was supported by rangers to manage risks.

He said they were tasked with daylong dive searches in creeks in Westcourt, Lake Placid, and the mangroves behind Wangetti Beach, sometimes searching the sandy bottoms of the creek in waters up to 2m deep.

He said no “items of interest” were recovered at the Wangetti waterways, Lake Placid, or Westcourt in a daylong searches at each location, and follow-up searches.

The trial continues.

Originally published as Jury inspects locations where Toyah’s dog was tied up and her body found during crime scene view