Crown acquaints Stafford jury with Tori's hometown

 A London, Ont., jury saw dozens of pictures this week of the part of Woodstock, Ont., where Victoria (Tori) Stafford disappeared from nearly three years ago.

The Grade 3 student at Oliver Stephens Public School disappeared on April 8, 2009.

Tori walked away from the school after classes ended, but never made it home.

Her remains were later found at a location near Mount Forest, Ont., about 100 kilometres north of her hometown.

The accused in her killing, Michael Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and abduction.

The Crown spent the first week of the trial describing the final day that Tori went to school, the period in which her family discovered she was missing, as well as the police investigation that was launched after her disappearance.

Jurors were shown aerial photos of the Woodstock neighbourhood where Tori lived and went to school, as well as images and videos that were taken on the afternoon she disappeared.

Among the images shown to the jury were shots of Tori walking with a woman in a white jacket after she left her school.

Those came from a surveillance camera mounted at a nearby high school, which captured the images of Tori and the woman, just minutes after the eight-year-old finished school.

Eventually, Terri-Lynne McClintic would admit to being the woman in the video. She pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Tori in April 2010 and received a life sentence.

In its opening statement, the Crown told jurors that McClintic and Rafferty had been in a relationship.

McClintic is scheduled to testify at the trial next week.

The jury was also shown pictures of a car seen in the vicinity of Tori’s school shortly before she disappeared. That car, the Crown alleges, belonged to the accused.

The Crown alleges that McClintic lured Tori toward Rafferty’s car, before they drove east to Guelph, Ont., and then up to Mount Forest.

Rafferty’s trial was moved to London because of the high-profile nature of the case. It is expected to last for several months.