Weatherston trying to rewrite history, court told

Clayton Weatherston admits killing Sophie Elliott but denies it was murder. Photo / The Press, Pool

Murder accused Clayton Weatherston has sought to "rewrite the script" to avoid responsibility and portray himself as the victim, the High Court has heard.

Weatherston, 33, made a calm, deliberate, premeditated decision to murder his former girlfriend, Sophie Elliott, prosecutor Robin Bates told the court today.

Closing the prosecution case against Weatherston, Mr Bates said it had been a "rather sad journey" over the last few weeks.

"And I'm sure everybody in this court would turn back the clock if they could," Mr Bates said.

"There's no indication, of this accused, that is what he would do."

Where remorse might be expected from Weatherston "there is none".

"It's exactly the opposite."

Weatherston, a former Otago University economics tutor, stabbed and cut Miss Elliott 216 times. He admits manslaughter, but says he was provoked by the emotional pain he suffered, and Miss Elliott, 22, attacking him with a pair of scissors.

Mr Bates said nothing said or done by Ms Elliott deprived Weatherston of self control. He told the jury they could not believe what Weatherston had told them.

"Because everywhere you look in the evidence .....if something reflects badly on him, he simply lies about it to avoid responsibility."

Weatherston says he went to Ms Elliott's home on January 9 last year to try to resolve issues and leave with the moral high ground.

Mr Bates: "What the Crown says is that the evidence shows the accused made a deliberate, calm, premeditated decision to both kill and mutilate Sophie Elliott, whether before he went to the house, or shortly after he arrived".

The day of the killing, and accounts of it, held "most if not all of the answers" the jury would seek, Mr Bates said.

Weatherston said he took a knife to Ms Elliott's home as a "force of habit". He could have carried a pocket knife instead for his purposes, Mr Bates said.

"Why a kitchen knife of that nature? By his own description, it was his weapon of choice."

Weatherston's account of what occurred in Ms Elliott's bedroom when he stabbed her to death "simply did not happen as the accused says".

Mr Bates said the jury could be confident of this because of Weatherston's lack of credibility, and surrounding evidence that conflicted with what he said.

Weatherston said he and Ms Elliott had discussion in her bedroom in the early part of his visit, but Mr Bates said Ms Elliott had come down downstairs from the bedroom and told her mother, Lesley Elliott: "He's just sitting there, he's not saying anything".

Mr Bates: "It just does not make sense."

After Ms Elliott had gone back upstairs to her bedroom, Mrs Elliott had heard her daughter say "stop it Clayton", not "f*** you Clayton" as Weatherston had suggested.

Mrs Elliott said her daughter sounded frightened not angry, Mr Bates said.

Of perhaps "overriding significance" is the situation with Ms Elliott's bedroom door.

When Mrs Elliott heard her daughter's screams and went up the stairs, the bedroom door was locked, and she had to get a meat skewer to force it open.

Weatherston said Ms Elliott locked the door, but Mr Bates said that defied common sense when Ms Elliott had been intending to get rid of Weatherston.

"Why is the door locked in the first instance? Because the accused doesn't want to be disturbed. Just as he doesn't want to be disturbed a short time later when Mrs Elliott gets the door open."

"The die is cast, the decision is made when he locks the door."

Weatherston's defence had been that he was left vulnerable when his glasses were knocked as Ms Elliott attacked him with a pair of scissors.

But this suggestion "just doesn't wash", Mr Bates said.

"And look at the size of the people we are dealing with." Sophie weighed 55kg, while Weatherston weighed 84kg.

The attack on Ms Elliott had been shown by pathologist Martin Sage to be persistent and focused. It targeted areas of Ms Elliott's beauty, and Weatherston appeared calm and in control to a police officer who arrived soon after Ms Elliott's death.

While the prosecution did not have to prove a motive for murder, Mr Bates said clues were there in Weatherston having told people that he hated her and was not going to be controlled.

An example of Weatherston's lying was an incident in 2006 with a former girlfriend, whose name is suppressed.

She told the court that Weatherston kicked her hard and jumped on her back and shoulders. Mr Bates said Weatherston was "suggesting somehow it is some sort of accident."

Weatherston later said it was reckless and he didn't intend to hurt her.

"Again the accused is simply rewriting the script, if you like, for that incident."

Mr Bates said Weatherston had also tried to rewrite the script by suggesting Ms Elliott was somehow far more experienced in relationships, and running this relationship between them.

"He tries to portray himself as the victim."

Weatherston had been at pains to say Ms Elliott was somewhat aggressive and attacked people. He had pointed to an incident where Ms Elliott had scratched the face of a former boyfriend after hours of being baited. But Weatherston had exaggerated this incident by suggesting Ms Elliott also kicked and punched this former boyfriend.

Mr Bates also raised the issue of "penis envy" - saying Weatherston would raise the issues of the size of his genitals compared to Ms Elliott's former boyfriends, rather than something Ms Elliott had raised and used to insult Weatherston.

Weatherston claimed Ms Elliott had attacked him in two separate incidents, on December 27, 2007, and January 7 last year, but Mr Bates said Ms Elliott had given totally different accounts in her diary or to others.

Ms Elliott had said Weatherston had pinned her on his bed and tried to rape her on December 27, and that on January 7 she put her arm up against his throat to demonstrate what Weatherston had earlier done to her, telling him: "You can't say this isn't assault".

Weatherston had suggested that the day before the killing, somehow he was in a downward spiral, and not eating or sleeping. But this was "self-reporting" by Weatherston, Mr Bates said.