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Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have been taken to the remote shore where the victim was located.

Toyah Cordingley was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and buried in a shallow grave with little or no chance of survival, the court has heard.

The remains were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Jury Inspection to Beach

The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates visited the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week local time.

In a nod to the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the lead prosecution and defence barristers chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Scene Details

The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Earlier, as they arrived by bus, several red and white cones indicated where the vehicle had been parked.

The trip was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no official evidence was presented.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's body were found, Mr Singh departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, three children and parents.

He was not heard from until he was apprehended four years later, the prosecution said.

Prosecution Case

It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, near Cairns, had a altercation with Ms Cordingley.

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a swimwear, with all her other clothes and most of her possessions absent.

Those items were taken by the killer to conceal evidence, the prosecution contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was located tied up to a tree hidden in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.

But the prosecution says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will include evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The court has previously been told evidence indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the scene after the killing – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle owned by the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the state has claimed.

Defence Position

"As the police were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a rushed one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said previously as he began arguments.

The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place 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 assault Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – 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 Testimony

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a person of interest, was one who gave evidence last week.

The trial heard he was an immediate police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's disappearance, even before her remains were discovered.

Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley disappeared have been presented to the court, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.

The trial will return to the more conventional setting of the courtroom on the next day.