TORONTO – The mother of accused killer Michael Rafferty made an appearance at the London, Ont. courthouse as closing arguments began in the Tori Stafford trial. Her son stands accused of kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder.
“I think he’s got a good lawyer,” said Deborah Murphy, Rafferty’s mother. “He’s not guilty and it hurts like hell.”
Thirty-one-year-old Michael Rafferty has pleaded not guilty in the murder of Stafford, an eight-year old Woodstock, Ont. girl who disappeared after school on April 8, 2009.
As defence lawyer Dirk Derstine began his final arguments, he reminded the jury that the Crown’s job was to prove the guilt of Rafferty beyond a reasonable doubt – something the Crown failed to do, Derstine said.
Derstine focused his final arguments on Terri-Lynne McClintic – the Crown’s key witness – saying that “the careful fictions” of McClintic create an insurmountable barrier to her being a reliable witness.
“We really have one fundamental part of direct evidence and that is Terri-Lynne McClintic,” Derstine said. “Clearly Ms. McClintic is a prolific liar.”
McClintic, who testified at Rafferty’s trial, has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
During cross-examination, Derstine suggested McClintic abducted Stafford over a drug debt, offered her sexually to Rafferty – who refused – then she brutally murdered the girl – a narrative he continued with during his final argument.
Rafferty’s innocence was echoed after the day’s court proceedings by his mother Deborah Murphy, who spoke briefly to the media.
“My son is innocent,” Murphy said. “Terri-Lynne McClintic has wrecked our lives.”
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During her testimony, McClintic denied Derstine’s suggestions, insisting Rafferty urged her to kidnap a young girl for him, that he raped Stafford and that McClintic then snapped and killed the girl.
Her testimony contradicted what she told police in a 2009 statement, when she said Rafferty was the one who dealt the deadly blows.
Both McClintic’s admission in her testimony and her statement to police in 2009 are being used as evidence against Rafferty.
McClintic’s violent, and criminal past also became a topic for the court during Derstine’s final arguments as he pointed towards her exceedingly violent letters and diaries, in which she frequently described murder fantasies.
One such letter, written just 26 days after Stafford’s killing read, “I’m getting bloodthirsty again, it’s like relapsing on a habit.”
Though Derstine admitted that these letters, diary entries and musical tastes don’t make her a murderer, he insisted that they are “a window into her soul.”
He also focused on other evidence that the Crown put forward to try to prove Rafferty’s guilt – evidence he said, that is mostly circumstantial and does not prove Rafferty committed murder.
Derstine tried to persuade the jury that Rafferty simply did not act like someone who was guilty throughout the alleged kidnapping.
He asked the jury if a person who knew he was kidnapping a little girl with plans to rape and murder her, would stop at Tim Hortons, or in a busy street for an extended period of time to buy drugs.
Rafferty did not have a “guilty mind,” Derstine said, he did not know he was part of a crime before the murder took place.
During the Crown’s case, Rafferty was described as unremorseful when evidence was brought forward of him texting and dating numerous women after the murder.
Derstine said that while that behaviour was not ideal, it was next to impossible for jury members to know how they would react after the situation and even harder to know how Rafferty would act.
Furthermore, Derstine claimed, Rafferty’s actions are circumstantial evidence and do not prove his guilt.
To this day, he said, McClintic is utterly unremorseful for the death of Stafford, recalling a statement she allegedly made to her godmother, admitting that she feels no remorse for what happened, but rather that it happened to a child.
Rodney Stafford, Tori’s father, who has sat in court for every day of the trial, was not angered by Deborah Murphy’s appearance at court.
“She’s got every right to be here, it’s her son,” Rodney said. “She’s not accused of anything. It’s unfortunate that her son is, and I do feel bad for her like because if it was one of my children, I’d feel bad too.”
The Crown attorney is expected to begin his closing statement Tuesday morning.
For more on the trial, follow our Global News reporters in London, Ontario in our live blog below.
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