July 07, 2009

Calm, controlled Weatherston admitted killing

Sophie Elliott murder trial, Day 10. By Anne Clarkson

?I killed her,? Clayton Robert Weatherston told the constable who was first on the scene of Sophie Elliott?s killing .

Constable John Cunningham said Weatherston said it in a calm normal tone. He was calm, reserved, and not shaking. He seemed normal and in control of himself.

He was standing with his hands by his sides at the end of the bed.

When he was laid on the floor, and handcuffed, Constable Cunningham asked him: ?Why did you kill her??

Weatherston said: ?The emotional pain that she has caused me over the past year.?

He told him he had used a knife, which was probably under her body.

When he was asked about the scissors lying on the floor, he said, ?I used them at the end.?

Constable Cunningham said he could see multiple cuts and stab wounds to right side of Miss Elliott?s throat.

He said there were blood smears and spatters on Weatherston?s arms up to his elbows, blood on his face, and two scratches to the left side of his neck.

Weatherston told him Miss Elliott?s name and volunteered her birth date, he said.

Detective John MacDade escorted Weatherston to the Dunedin Police Station and said he noted blood spatters on his face and blood on the back of his legs.

He also had blood smears on the front and back of his denim cut off pants and on his underwear.

Weatherston, 33, denies the charge of murdering Miss Elliott on January 9, 2008, in Dunedin. He has indicated he would admit a charge of manslaughter. The defence claims provocation.

Today is the tenth day of the trial before Justice Judith Potter and a jury in the High Court at Christchurch.

The court adjourned mid-afternoon to hear legal argument and is due to resume on Wednesday morning.