KEY POINTS:
The brother of murdered Otago University student Sophie Elliott will accept her degree in a graduation ceremony this weekend.
Miss Elliott, 22, was murdered in her family home at the Dunedin suburb of Ravensbourne on January 9.
Otago University economics research fellow Clayton Robert Weatherston, 32, has been charged with her murder and remanded in custody.
Police have said the two had been in a relationship.
Last year, Miss Elliott completed a first-class honours degree in economics and was murdered weeks before she was to have started a job at the Treasury.
She would have graduated this week.
Instead, one of her brothers, Chris Elliott, 29, will be at the Dunedin Town Hall to formally receive the degree on her behalf, the Otago Daily Times reported.
More than 460 students will graduate at the ceremony.
Mr Elliott, who has a BA (Hons) in philosophy from Otago University, said it was sad his sister would not accept the degree herself, but accepting it for her was better than "just having her name read out".
"It's hard. I don't know what I will feel like on the day, but it's a celebration of her achievements, definitely," he said.
- NZPA
