Youth accused of murdering Alesha says he never met her
THE teenage boy charged with killing and raping Alesha Macphail has said he never met her – as a court was told traces of DNA matching the accused were found on the six-year-old girl.
He told the High Court in Glasgow he had “never met Alesha Macphail in person”, and answered “no” and “absolutely not” as his defence lawyer took him through the charges yesterday.
But forensic scientist Stuart Bailey said DNA found on and inside Alesha Macphail’s body, shorts and vest was more than one billion times more likely to be from the accused than someone unrelated to him.
Her naked body was found in a wooded area on Bute, where she was staying, on July 2, last year.
A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, denies abducting the youngster from the island home she shared with her father and grandparents, raping and murdering her, and attempting to hide evidence.
The teenager told the court he would “never do something like that” and, asked if he “brutalised” her, he said: “It’s not me, absolutely not. I would never do something like that.”
Questioned if his “DNA is all over her” because he murdered and raped her, he said: “No”.
Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, he said he had been “fairly frequently” having sex with the woman he is blaming for Alesha’s death, Toni Mclachlan, the girlfriend of the girl’s father, Robert.
He said that, from October 2017 and for most of the the winter, they were “friends with benefits” and were “meeting up, having sex, smoking joints”.
Mr Macphail walked out of the courtroom as the teenager gave evidence.
CCTV footage showed the teenager vanished for almost two hours on the night Alesha Macphail died.
He explained to the court that he was heading to see Ms Mclachlan when he was shown on CCTV leaving his home. He said that, in the early hours of July 2, he and Ms Mclachlan messaged on Instagram and met for a cigarette.
They met in a shelter outside the home where she was staying with Mr Macphail, Alesha and her grandparents, then went to a garage and had sex, before going their separate ways, the court heard.
The teenager has claimed in a “special defence” that it was Ms Mclachlan who killed the six-year-old girl and planted his DNA from a used condom. She denies this and that she had sex with the accused on July 2.
The teenager told the court he believed she retrieved the condom he threw away in the garage.
He said: “Toni’s took the condom when I left. She’s went and killed Alesha.”
He also said he believed Ms Mclachlan had been planning the murder. I don’t think it’s something that you would do spontaneously,” he added.
“She could have been fantasising about it for months. I really don’t know, I’m not her.”
He said alleging she had murdered Alesha if it was not true would be “evil”.
Brian Mcconnachie QC, defending, asked the accused about a video he posted on social media that day which showed his top half with the written message “found who done it”.
The accused said: “It was a video of my feet walking to the bathroom and the camera points up to the mirror and I pretend to get a fright and it says ‘found who done it’.”
Asked why he did that, he replied: “People were talking about who might have done it and one of my friends said my name and I didn’t want to take it to heart so I just thought I would build on it.”
Mr Mcconnachie said: “You were making people know you were responsible.”
The accused replied: “No, we didn’t even know it was a murder at that time, we were just speculating.”
Questioned about messages he exchanged with a friend where he says he would maybe “kill one day for the lifetime experience”, he said these were “not serious”.
Earlier, Mr Bailey said DNA traces found on Alesha could be explained by the 16-yearold coming into contact with areas of her body and clothes.
Asked if the accused’s DNA could have been discovered following secondary transfer from a third party, Mr Bailey said: “I can’t rule it out but I find it highly unlikely given the amount of DNA attributed to [the accused].” The trial continues.
It’s not me, absolutely not. I would never do something like that