Members of the jury overseeing a widely publicized Queensland homicide case have traveled to the remote beach where the young woman was discovered.
Toyah Cordingley was multiple times stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with minimal hope of surviving, the court has heard.
The remains were discovered by her father the next day on Wangetti Beach – a section of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.
Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a Sunday afternoon in October 2018 in northern Australia.
The jury of 10 men and two women plus three alternates visited the location along with the presiding officer and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.
In a acknowledgment of the hot climate and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.
Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected polo shirts, shorts and baseball caps.
The jurors were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were uncovered.
Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, several markers indicated where the vehicle had been left.
The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with key locations in the trial and no testimony was presented.
Previously, 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 spouse, family and relatives.
He was not heard from until he was apprehended years after, the prosecution said.
It is claimed that the defendant, who was employed in healthcare in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.
The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings missing.
Those objects were removed by the assailant to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.
Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found secured to a tree concealed in shrubland about 30 metres from the grave.
The weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses have been found.
But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was comprised findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."
This will include evidence that genetic material obtained from a stick at the location was extremely more probable to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.
The jury has previously been told evidence suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its movements corresponded with those of a vehicle owned by the defendant.
Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.
"While authorities were discovering Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.
The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his initial statement, the defense attorney Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "incorrect location at the unfortunate moment."
He also hinted at testimony to come later in the trial that, after his arrest, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had seen assailants assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."
The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about other people "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.
Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.
The trial was informed he was an initial person of interest – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his partner'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 jury, with an expert saying he was confident the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.
The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.
Elara is a seasoned gaming journalist with a passion for slot mechanics and player strategies.
