Tori Stafford trial: Rafferty’s lawyer calls McClintic a prolific, skilled liar in closing address

Deborah Murphy, the mother of Michael Rafferty, walks into court for proceedings in the Rafferty murder trial in London, Ont. on

LONDON, ONT.-Terri-Lynne McClintic is a liar and neither her testimony nor her credibility is reliable, Michael Rafferty’s lawyer told the jury during closing arguments in the Tori Stafford murder case.
“I am going to suggest that Terri-Lynne McClintic is a prolific and accomplished liar,” said DirkDerstine as he faced the jury on Monday morning. He said McClintic has given many statements to the police where she “cheerfully lied. You will find that she has wilfully and carefully and with a skill, she succeeded in misleading police officers.”
Derstine also pointed out to the 12 jurors that McClintic was able to maintain a lie for almost three years that minimized her involvement in a child’s death, that she blamed Rafferty for Tori`s death.
He acknowledged the trial is set against the backdrop of an unspeakable tragedy, of a child’s brutal murder, but asked the jury to not let it overwhelm them. “Don’t think about the moral flaws that Michael Rafferty may have ... the question I can ask is to dispassionately consider where the evidence takes you.”
Tori, 8, disappeared while on her way home from school on April 8, 2009 in Woodstock. McClintic and Rafferty, then lovers, were arrested and charged a month later. Tori’s remains were found near Mount Forest in July. McClintic pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in April 2010. Rafferty’s trial started on March 5.
McClintic initially told investigators that while she had lured Tori to the car, it was at Rafferty’s behest and he raped, he killed the little girl.
She drastically changed her statement earlier this year and said she wielded the hammer that killed Tori but maintained that everything else in her statement was true, that she lured Tori because Rafferty told her to, that they went to a secluded spot near Mount Forest where he raped her twice.
McClintic’s testimony still formed the foundation of the crown’s case against Rafferty.
And so, for two months, the four Crown lawyers meticulously lined up evidence, including some forensics, against Rafferty. In his opening address to the jury, Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey said Tori was kicked, raped, killed and then her body left under a pile of rocks. It was a crime allegedly committed in tandem by McClintic and Rafferty, who specifically did what to Tori was irrelevant, he said.
The Crown called 61 witnesses, hundreds of photos were shown, much video surveillance was played.
Rafferty’s defence called one witness: a grandmother who said she saw McClintic enter Tori’s school the day the girl disappeared. It was the first time evidence was presented suggesting McClintic went inside the school and she may have targeted Tori, not picked her up randomly as the Crown has suggested.
On Monday, Rafferty’s mother, Deborah Murphy showed up at the courtroom. A short woman in a cream jacket and a pink shirt, she walked with a cane and was accompanied by a man.
It was the first time someone from Rafferty’s family made an appearance.
Rafferty exchanged several looks with his mother and seemed happy to see her.