Never have cause for regret
Lesley Elliott relived the events that preceded, and followed the murder of her daughter Sophie in her bedroom in Dunedin on January 9, 2008, when she addressed a small audience at Kaitaia College on Monday evening.
She was there to talk about the signs of an unhealthy relationship, signs that she had not fully understood before her daughter was stabbed to death by Clayton Weatherston, but the most poignant advice was offered by one of Sophie's friends in a video that illustrated Mrs Elliott's address.
"Make sure your feelings of concern are expressed so you have nothing to regret," Jess said, adding that it was only because she had tried to help Sophie that she herself had survived.
Sophie and Weatherston, nine years her senior and one of her lecturers at Otago University, had only been a couple for five months when her daughter's life ended with a brutal stabbing attack, as she packed for a move to Wellington the following day, Mrs Elliott said.