Opening Statements 03/05/2012 in MRT's Trial

[matou]

I think a local posted that there was fresh snow on the ground that day in Mt. Forest.

 

[daisy.faithfull]

The mystery woman was Ms. McClintic, and she led Tori to a nearby parking lot, Mr. Gowdey said, where Mr. Rafferty “sat in his Honda Civic, waiting.”

The car was caught on video near the school three times in total that day.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/05/tori-stafford-christie-blatchford/

Seems like a guy desperate for a little girl. Trolling the school. JMO

Do we know if TLMc was with him each time?

 

[swedie]

-The back seat was never recovered.
-Both Rafferty and McClintic had a Missing Person poster, in their homes, depicting Tori, when police searched them.
-Police never found the rest of Tori's clothes, her backpack or McClintic's jacket.
-Tori's rib fractures and lacerated liver happened before she suffered the fatal blow to the head.
-Tori was killed by repeated blows to the head and found naked from the waste down. She also suffered trauma to her torso and ribs.
-Rafferty also checked his voicemail at 7:47 the night Tori went missing. Call bounced off a cell phone tower near where her body was located
-Rafferty's used his blackberry frequently on April 8th, 2009. Police able to pinpoint where he was whenever he did.
-Crown says McClintic and Rafferty were caught on tape several times that day. Both in and outside of Woodstock.
-Rafferty's Honda Civic was also caught on tape several times.
-Crown says the accused visited Barbara Armstrong, a friend of Rafferty's in Guelph to buy drugs. Tori was in the car, but was not seen.
https://twitter.com/#!/AM980_Court

Matou, you were dead on with your google maps link and that gas station on Woodlawn road. That is the PetroCan they went to. Great sleuthing!! :woohoo: This is not looking good at all for MR. Not at all. So much damning information in just an hour or two from the crown?! I think the defense has got a lot of explaining to do to try and prove MR's innocence. I don't think it's going to work. Especially the blood evidence.:what: MOO

On April 8, 2009, Rafferty drove his car, a Honda Civic, along Fyfe Avenue in Woodstock past Oliver Stephens Public School to a nearby nursing home.

McClintic walked Tori to that nursing home, where the girl got in the car.

The two adults drove Tori to Guelph, where Rafferty visited a friend and bought "a large number" of painkillers.

The pair then went to a Petro Canada gas station in the north end of Guelph, where a video camera caught Rafferty heading to the ATM machine. He took out cash, got back in the car and drove closer to a nearby Home Depot.

McClintic went in and paid cash at the self-serve for garbage bags and a hammer.

"She picked out a hammer from a display in the store, a claw hammer," Gowdey said.

McClintic then put the hammer and bags in the trunk and the pair drove away. Rafferty knows the area well from working there and because he has family in the region, Gowdey said. They drove to a remote spot near Mount Forest, where Tori was raped and killed.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview....ifficult-story-about-tori-staffords-final-day

 

[daisy.faithfull]

According to Mr. Gowdey, the harm the two did the little blonde was unimaginable: An autopsy showed Tori died from repeated hammer blows to the head, but that other injuries she suffered — blunt force trauma sufficient to lacerate her liver and fracture many of her ribs — would have been fatal on their own.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/05/tori-stafford-christie-blatchford/

I think earlier we had discussed whether or not an object or hands had been used to break Tori's ribs and damage her liver. Is the "blunt force trauma" usually used to describe an object?

 

[daisy.faithfull]

Matou, you were dead on with your google maps link and that gas station on Woodlawn road. That is the PetroCan they went to. Great sleuthing!! :woohoo: This is not looking good at all for MR. Not at all. So much damning information in just an hour or two from the crown?! I think the defense has got a lot of explaining to do to try and prove MR's innocence. I don't think it's going to work. Especially the blood evidence.:what: MOO

On April 8, 2009, Rafferty drove his car, a Honda Civic, along Fyfe Avenue in Woodstock past Oliver Stephens Public School to a nearby nursing home.

McClintic walked Tori to that nursing home, where the girl got in the car.

The two adults drove Tori to Guelph, where Rafferty visited a friend and bought "a large number" of painkillers.

The pair then went to a Petro Canada gas station in the north end of Guelph, where a video camera caught Rafferty heading to the ATM machine. He took out cash, got back in the car and drove closer to a nearby Home Depot.

McClintic went in and paid cash at the self-serve for garbage bags and a hammer.

"She picked out a hammer from a display in the store, a claw hammer," Gowdey said.

McClintic then put the hammer and bags in the trunk and the pair drove away. Rafferty knows the area well from working there and because he has family in the region, Gowdey said. They drove to a remote spot near Mount Forest, where Tori was raped and killed.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview....ifficult-story-about-tori-staffords-final-day

I agree. Very awesome Matou

 

[margaret_diane]

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/05/tori-stafford-christie-blatchford/

I think earlier we had discussed whether or not an object or hands had been used to break Tori's ribs and damage her liver. Is the "blunt force trauma" usually used to describe an object?

Not sure but it seems the Crown is saying the hammer did the damage the damage to the skull. I'm not sure what broke her ribs but I can tell you that rib fracture is probably how the liver ended up lacerated. Guessing a right rib was fractured at the back somewhere. This is just a guess on my part.

 

[daisy.faithfull]

Not sure but it seems the Crown is saying the hammer did the damage the damage to the skull. I'm not sure what broke her ribs but I can tell you that rib fracture is probably how the liver ended up lacerated. Guessing a right rib was fractured at the back somewhere. This is just a guess on my part.

Could it be that they threw her against something?

I want to believe that Tori was very, very drugged and I think there are many indications that she was, but if she was thrown against something that could indicate a struggle.

I do wish that we could see the trial, but I am very grateful that pictures will not be released to the media, or at least that is what I'm assuming at this point. Actually, when it comes to the details of the sexual assault, I hope they keep those from the public too.

 

[swedie]

I think this reporter made a mistake: Last sentence underlined and bolded.

UPDATE: 8:46 -- The media descended on the London courthouse this morning waiting for the trial of Michael Rafferty which begins at 10 a.m. Reporters started lining up about 5:30 a.m. to ensure they would get a spot in the main courtroom on the 14th floor.

About 50 were in line when the courthouse opened at 8 a.m. and four satellite trucks were parked around the courthouse.

There is also an overflow room with video monitors on the 6th floor.

Almost everyone in the line were from the media. But the father of Tara McDonald, Tori Stafford's grandfather, is one of the family members waiting for the overflow room to open. The trial will begin with opening statements from the Crown prosecutors and Rafferty's lawyer Dirk Derstine.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2012/03/05/michael-rafferty-trial-updates

 

[Kittymama]

Isn't Dick Derstine Rafferty's lawyer?

ETA: Oh, do you mean because there was no opening statement from him? Never mind,then.

 

[matou]

The communication continued even after McClintic was taken into custody, with regular phone contact between Rafferty and McClintic, from April 12 to May 15, while she was at the Genest Detention Centre in London. Rafferty was listed as McClintic’s “boyfriend” at the facility and had been approved by staff for visits. There is video tape, said Gowdey, of Rafferty with McClintic at Genest.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...etails-of-slaying-revealed-as-case-opens?bn=1

 

[matou]

Based on how this article is written, Tori was in the car at Caressant Care and THEN the car was spotted at the ESSO station. That means everyone was in the car at the time and I'm 100% postive the Rafferty was the driver with a light coloured coat on, NOT TLM.

Also, Rafferty takes $40 from an ATM and is videotaped. In the same paragraph, TLM purchases the items from HD. Did he give her the $$$ to buy these items? Did he tell her what to buy?

Before this purchase, they arrive at the friend's in Guelph allegedly to buy percosets. If he did, then he had money on him so why did he take another $40 later? Short of cash? Money for tea?

At 3.20 p.m., the Civic was caught on a camera at a nearby Esso station. By 4.30 it was in Guelph where Rafferty went into a woman’s house, allegedly to buy Percocet pills — while McClintic remained in the vehicle. Tori was “hidden from sight.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...etails-of-slaying-revealed-as-case-opens?bn=1

 

[matou]

Meanwhile, police seized Rafferty’s Honda Civic, which had been roughly painted over black, its back seat removed.

Did Rafferty paint over his car black after Tori's murder?

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...etails-of-slaying-revealed-as-case-opens?bn=1

 

[nursebeeme]

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164959"]trial thread; 3/6/2012 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]

move on over to the new thread