McClintic tells jurors about Tori's final hours

Jurors heard Tuesday about the chilling final hours of Victoria (Tori) Stafford's life from the woman who previously pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of the eight-year-old. 

Terri-Lynne McClintic was called to testify at the London, Ont., trial of Michael Thomas Rafferty, who is accused in Tori's death.

Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and abduction.

McClintic was sentenced to life in prison in April 2010.

She told the court Tuesday about the last day of Tori's life, when the Grade 3 student was allegedly lured to a waiting car that McClintic said was driven by Rafferty, taken far from her hometown of Woodstock, Ont., sexually assaulted and killed with a hammer. Her remains were left under a pile of rocks.

McClintic said that on April 8, 2009, she, Rafferty and Tori drove away from Woodstock, after luring the young girl away when she was walking home from Oliver Stephens Public School.

Tori asked a number of times where they were headed. McClintic told her they were "going for a drive," though she testified that she, too, did not know where they were going.

McClintic said Tori was under a black pea coat, which had been placed over the girl on the instruction of Rafferty. Tori was on the floor behind the driver's seat.

Several stops in Guelph

After leaving Woodstock, they travelled along Highway 401. McClintic said Rafferty told her that "we just can’t keep her and we can’t take her back."

They drove to Guelph, Ont. where they made several stops, first at a Tim Hortons. 

McClintic testified she mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to Tori, after Rafferty said to keep the girl covered when he came back to the car after stopping at the coffee shop.

They then travelled to the home of one of Rafferty’s friends, McClintic testified, before driving to a Home Depot at the north end of the city.

McClintic said she went into the store to purchase a hammer and garbage bags, because she had been "instructed" to do so by Rafferty.

McClintic said they then headed out of the city and into a rural area. She testified that Rafferty began masturbating as they turned down a laneway.

They eventually stopped but McClintic left the vehicle because she knew what was going to happen.

"I believed he was going to rape Tori," McClintic said Tuesday.

McClintic said she turned away and heard screaming.

She said she did not watch what was happening though she heard much of what was going on.

McClintic also said she delivered the blows the Crown alleges ultimately killed the young girl.

She said she placed a garbage bag over the girl's head and struck it several times with the hammer. McClintic also said she kicked Tori before hitting her with the hammer.

McClintic said she and Rafferty then moved Tori's body to the base of a pine tree near a rock pile and covered her with stones.

After it was over, Rafferty cleaned himself using water bottles and McClintic’s winter jacket.

They made efforts to mess up the tire tracks the car had left at the scene, then drove away.

Talk about 'dogs or candy,' McClintic told

McClintic told the court that she had waited outside Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock, earlier that day, after Rafferty had urged her to prove she wasn't "all talk" and to kidnap a little girl.

She said Rafferty had told her what to say.

"They'll be getting out of school now. Just talk about dogs or candy," McClintic said she was instructed to say by Rafferty.

McClintic told the court that while she was waiting she saw "a bunch of kids getting out of school."

Those children included Tori, with whom McClintic began talking.

McClintic said she approached Tori because she was the only child who was walking by herself.

The two talked about dogs, with McClintic telling her that she had a Shih Tzu, which was the same type of dog that Tori had.

They walked over to the parking lot of a nearby retirement home where Rafferty's car was parked.

As they got close to the vehicle, Rafferty yelled at her to hurry up, and McClintic pushed Tori into the car.

Rafferty, McClintic met weeks earlier

McClintic had only known Rafferty for several months on the day that Tori disappeared.

She told the court she often helped Rafferty obtain drugs and the two had sex on several occasions.

The court also heard details about McClintic's upbringing, including that she was given up for adoption and raised in a household where violence and substance abuse were prevalent.

McClintic told the court she had a "very addictive personality" and began smoking tobacco, as well as marijuana, when she was only eight years old.

As she got older, she would eventually use opiates, painkillers, OxyContin and morphine.

When she was 17, she was living in Woodstock, Ont., so that she could look after her adoptive mother.

"My day-to-day routine was getting high," McClintic said. "That was pretty much it."

The Crown also brought up McClintic's criminal record as a youth, which included assault convictions in Bracebridge, North Bay and Sudbury.

The trial is set to continue on Wednesday.