Rafferty found guilty of 2009 rape, murder of Tori Stafford
Verdict carries life sentence, no parole for 25 years
Justice finally came for Victoria Stafford late Friday when a jury convicted Michael Rafferty of taking, raping and killing the eight-year-old girl in a secluded Ontario field more than three years ago.
It took the nine women and three men roughly 10 hours to decide Rafferty was guilty of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping.
Members of Stafford’s family burst into tears and hugged each other as the verdict came down.
Rafferty, meanwhile, sagged visibly in his seat and closed his eyes as the guilty verdicts were read out in court.
The murder verdict carries with it an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years. A sentencing hearing will be held next Tuesday; Stafford’s family is expected to deliver victim-impact statements.
“I knew we would see justice,” Rodney Stafford, Tori’s father, said outside the courthouse — where observers and passersby cheered and shouted their joy over the verdict, while motorists honked their horns.
Asked about his feelings when he heard the verdict, Rodney Stafford said he “wanted to scream in the courtroom, but I just couldn’t . . . But at the same time, a sense of loss because Tori’s not coming home.”
When asked about evidence found on Rafferty’s laptop that jurors were not allowed to hear during trial — evidence that Rafferty was a consumer of violent child porn —
I wanted to scream in the courtroom, but I just couldn’t RODNEY STAFFORD, TORI’S FATHER
Stafford said the jurors are certain to feel relieved when they learn of it.
“They are going to be very amazed . . . it was all for this little girl here,” he said, holding aloft a picture of Tori.
Rafferty had pleaded not guilty. He did not testify.
His high-profile trial, which began March 5, has heard from 62 witnesses and has seen 190 exhibits entered into evidence.
Doreen Graichen, Tori’s grandmother, told reporters the verdict made her feel “like I can breath again.
“Tori has justice. That was all we ever wanted,” she said, smiling through tears.
“What we’ve been feeling inside for the last three years (has) been hell. This has almost been like a release for us. It’s just amazing.”
The girl’s mother, Tara Mcdonald, left the courthouse with a smile on her face and did not speak to reporters.
Crown prosecutor Kevin Gowdey said he was pleased with the verdict.
He took no questions but did make a short statement in which he thanked the jury and investigators for their work in bringing a long and difficult trial to conclusion.
Police officers who worked on the Stafford investigation expressed joy as they spoke to media Friday. Many had tears in their eyes. Woodstock police Insp. Bill Renton, formerly of the Ontario Provincial Police, led the investigation into Stafford’s disappearance.
It remains the largest police operation to date in the province’s history.
“Tori was truly our inspiration for the past three years,” he said Friday.
“I know that we all found . . . inspiration and our drive from a very special girl and that was Tori Stafford,” said OPP Det. Insp. Mike Bickerton.
Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine said his client was disappointed by the verdict. It’s unclear if he will file an appeal, which must be done within 30 days.
“We have no regrets,” he said. “We did everything we could to ensure a fair trial for Mr. Rafferty.”
Two years ago, Rafferty’s exgirlfriend, Terri-lynne Mcclintic, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Stafford’s death. The 21-year-old was also sentenced to life in prison.
The Grade 3 student was last seen alive outside an elementary school on April 8, 2009, in Woodstock, Ont., a small city west of Toronto.
Her bludgeoned body was found in a fetal position on July 19, 2009, wrapped in garbage bags and buried under a rock pile in a field near Mount Forest, more than two hours north of where she was last seen.
The girl was found wearing no pants or underwear.
An autopsy determined that she had died from multiple blows to the skull, likely caused by a hammer. She also had 16 broken ribs and suffered a 15-centimetre cut to her liver.
For the past 10 weeks, the jury heard complex and often disturbing evidence in the trial.
The jury, which was sequestered late Thursday night, arrived at their verdict without knowing Rafferty was interested in sex with children and that up until the day the little girl was abducted, he had used his laptop to look up several disturbing search terms, including images and videos of underage rape.
Part of this long Internet history included a “substantial” amount of child pornography, including “how-to” videos and slide shows on sexually assaulting children and even a “snuff” film — which depicts an actual murder — that featured a child.
This evidence was just some of the explosive details gathered by the Crown that was excluded from the murder trial due to its highly prejudicial nature and what was ruled as being obtained with the use of an incomplete search warrant.
From the beginning, prosecutors believed Rafferty and Mcclintic, lovers at the time, had deliberately planned to kidnap the girl, sexually assault her and then kill her because she was old enough to identify them if she was ever released.
The Crown argued Rafferty manipulated Mcclintic — a troubled, drug-addicted young woman — into being his “violent pawn” and willing partner in the plan.
The court saw video surveillance of a car suspected to be Rafferty’s in the area of Stafford’s school three times earlier that day.
During six days on the stand, McClintic testified that on a few occasions before the kidnapping, Rafferty had driven her around schools and to homes of single mothers telling her that it would be easy to “take” somebody.
She told the court she was the woman in the white ski jacket last seen walking with Stafford on surveillance video after school on April 8, 2009.