Between sobs and a wavering voice, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, told the jury about what happened on April 8 2009 when she lured Tori as the little girl walked out from Oliver Stephens School.
The Crown’s star witness took the stand on Tuesday morning. Her voice cracking, McClintic said she lured Tori away while the child was walking from her school.
LONDON, ONT. —The woman who pleaded guilty to Tori Stafford’s abduction and first-degree murder broke down in court while telling jurors about the little girl’s sexual assault and her last minutes.
“Need a minute,” Terri-Lynne McClintic told the court as she recounted events of the afternoon of April 8, 2009, the day Tori went missing and was later killed.
Tori, 8, was abducted while walking home from school. McClintic and Michael Rafferty, then a couple, were arrested a month later and charged with abduction and murder. McClintic pleaded guilty in Tori’s death and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2010.
Rafferty, 31, is accused in the first-degree murder, sexual assault and abduction of the little girl.
His trial began on March 5.
McClintic is the Crown’s star witness and she took the stand on Tuesday morning.
Her voice cracking, McClintic said after she lured Tori away while the child was walking from her school.
“I started talking to her,” said McClintic. “I started walking beside her and asked why she was walking alone. I remember asking her name and remember asking if she wanted me to walk with her. I remember telling her my name and telling her she could call me T.”
Tori told McClintic her name. “My name is Victoria but everyone calls me Tori,” McClintic recalled her saying.
They talked about dogs, too.
They walked quickly and into the parking lot of the nursing home where McClintic said Rafferty had parked his car. As the two got closer, McClintic said Rafferty asked her to hurry “. . . and I panicked. And I pushed her (Tori) in the vehicle.”
The engine was running at that point, she said.
She pushed Tori into the back and threw a black coat over her, McClintic said.
Rafferty, she told the jury, then took Norwich Ave. and quickly got on Hwy. 401.
“(Tori) was asking where are we going,” said McClintic. “I kept saying we are going for a drive.”
They went to Guelph and one of the stops they made was at a Home Depot where she said Rafferty gave her money and asked her to buy a claw hammer and garbage bags.
They then drove for about 45 minutes and turned into a rural road where McClintic said Rafferty sexually assaulted the child. At Crown Kevin Gowdey’s urging, she described the geography that included “shrubs, trees and swampiness.”
There was a rockpile at the end of the laneway, she said. She said Rafferty was driving very slowly.
When he stopped the car, McClintic said she quickly got out. “I got out of the vehicle . . . because . . . Mr. Rafferty . . . I knew it was going to happen. And I did not want to be there when it would happen,” she said, sobbing quietly.
“I believed he was going to rape Tori.”
At one point, she heard noises and turned to look and saw Tori in Rafferty`s lap. “Trying to molest her . . . trying to put his penis in her.”
Tori, McClintic said, only had a shirt on.
Earlier in the morning, McClintic told the jury how she met first Michael Rafferty in February 2009: while at a New Orleans Pizza in Woodstock. It was just a couple of months before Tori was abducted and murdered.
“I went to get pizza for me and my neighbour and my mom,” she said. Rafferty was inside and talking on the phone. The two struck up a conversation and McClintic remembers telling him her name. He then offered her a ride home. “I had a lot of stuff to carry and I said yes.”
Rafferty took her home in his car but stopped in the driveway where the two started chatting.
McClintic said she was high that day too.
She did not end up going inside the house because Rafferty asked her if she wanted to hangout and go for a drive and she said yes. “Went for a drive around Woodstock, around Ingersoll,” said McClintic, adding she was getting along well with him.
McClintic said he did some stunts with his car and then “we had sex in his car.”
The main courtroom and the overflow courtroom were packed to capacity on Tuesday in anticipation of McClintic’s testimony. Reporters and members of the public lined up as early as 6 a.m. to get seats in the two courtrooms.
Rafferty, in a new hair cut, appeared to listen intently and took copious notes on a yellow pad.
Earlier Tuesday, the trial was told that for about five minutes on two different occasions, McClintic was alone with Tori, but the older woman made no effort to either seek help or let the child go.
“I asked her (Tori) if she needed to use the washroom,” said McClintic. “I asked her if she needed anything. No. She said she didn’t need anything. He (Michael Rafferty) was gone for a bit.”
While Rafferty was out of the car at a house in Guelph to pick up a prescription, Tori asked if she could go home, McClintic said.
“I said soon, that I would make sure she would get home, that I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her,” she said.
The house was the second stop. The first was at a Tim Hortons in Guelph.
The trial continues.
ALSO FROM THE STAR:
Tori Stafford puzzle finally revealed portrait of murder: DiMannoKiller polished resume hours before murder, trial told
“Need a minute,” Terri-Lynne McClintic told the court as she recounted events of the afternoon of April 8, 2009, the day Tori went missing and was later killed.
Tori, 8, was abducted while walking home from school. McClintic and Michael Rafferty, then a couple, were arrested a month later and charged with abduction and murder. McClintic pleaded guilty in Tori’s death and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2010.
Rafferty, 31, is accused in the first-degree murder, sexual assault and abduction of the little girl.
His trial began on March 5.
McClintic is the Crown’s star witness and she took the stand on Tuesday morning.
Her voice cracking, McClintic said after she lured Tori away while the child was walking from her school.
“I started talking to her,” said McClintic. “I started walking beside her and asked why she was walking alone. I remember asking her name and remember asking if she wanted me to walk with her. I remember telling her my name and telling her she could call me T.”
Tori told McClintic her name. “My name is Victoria but everyone calls me Tori,” McClintic recalled her saying.
They talked about dogs, too.
They walked quickly and into the parking lot of the nursing home where McClintic said Rafferty had parked his car. As the two got closer, McClintic said Rafferty asked her to hurry “. . . and I panicked. And I pushed her (Tori) in the vehicle.”
The engine was running at that point, she said.
She pushed Tori into the back and threw a black coat over her, McClintic said.
Rafferty, she told the jury, then took Norwich Ave. and quickly got on Hwy. 401.
“(Tori) was asking where are we going,” said McClintic. “I kept saying we are going for a drive.”
They went to Guelph and one of the stops they made was at a Home Depot where she said Rafferty gave her money and asked her to buy a claw hammer and garbage bags.
They then drove for about 45 minutes and turned into a rural road where McClintic said Rafferty sexually assaulted the child. At Crown Kevin Gowdey’s urging, she described the geography that included “shrubs, trees and swampiness.”
There was a rockpile at the end of the laneway, she said. She said Rafferty was driving very slowly.
When he stopped the car, McClintic said she quickly got out. “I got out of the vehicle . . . because . . . Mr. Rafferty . . . I knew it was going to happen. And I did not want to be there when it would happen,” she said, sobbing quietly.
“I believed he was going to rape Tori.”
At one point, she heard noises and turned to look and saw Tori in Rafferty`s lap. “Trying to molest her . . . trying to put his penis in her.”
Tori, McClintic said, only had a shirt on.
Earlier in the morning, McClintic told the jury how she met first Michael Rafferty in February 2009: while at a New Orleans Pizza in Woodstock. It was just a couple of months before Tori was abducted and murdered.
“I went to get pizza for me and my neighbour and my mom,” she said. Rafferty was inside and talking on the phone. The two struck up a conversation and McClintic remembers telling him her name. He then offered her a ride home. “I had a lot of stuff to carry and I said yes.”
Rafferty took her home in his car but stopped in the driveway where the two started chatting.
McClintic said she was high that day too.
She did not end up going inside the house because Rafferty asked her if she wanted to hangout and go for a drive and she said yes. “Went for a drive around Woodstock, around Ingersoll,” said McClintic, adding she was getting along well with him.
McClintic said he did some stunts with his car and then “we had sex in his car.”
The main courtroom and the overflow courtroom were packed to capacity on Tuesday in anticipation of McClintic’s testimony. Reporters and members of the public lined up as early as 6 a.m. to get seats in the two courtrooms.
Rafferty, in a new hair cut, appeared to listen intently and took copious notes on a yellow pad.
Earlier Tuesday, the trial was told that for about five minutes on two different occasions, McClintic was alone with Tori, but the older woman made no effort to either seek help or let the child go.
“I asked her (Tori) if she needed to use the washroom,” said McClintic. “I asked her if she needed anything. No. She said she didn’t need anything. He (Michael Rafferty) was gone for a bit.”
While Rafferty was out of the car at a house in Guelph to pick up a prescription, Tori asked if she could go home, McClintic said.
“I said soon, that I would make sure she would get home, that I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her,” she said.
The house was the second stop. The first was at a Tim Hortons in Guelph.
The trial continues.
ALSO FROM THE STAR:
Tori Stafford puzzle finally revealed portrait of murder: DiMannoKiller polished resume hours before murder, trial told
Related
- Terri McClintic resume
- DiManno: A mother's shortcomings
- Mother of slain girl testifies about visiting McClintic’s home
- Tapes put accused in area of abduction, prosecutors say
- Horrific details of slaying revealed as case opens
- Blows from hammer caused massive injuries, Crown says
- Timeline of events (photos)
- The key players
- DiManno: The day Tori Stafford was murdered
- Victim impact statements
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Tori Stafford murder trial: Terri-Lynne McClintic breaks down
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