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Terri-Lynne McClintic says she tried to ignore her former boyfriend's sexual desires on the day that eight-year-old Tori Stafford went missing.
Testifying at the first-degree murder trial of ex-boyfriend Michael Rafferty on Tuesday, McClintic recalled in disturbing detail the events surrounding the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Tori.
Tori, a Grade 3 student, went missing on April 8, 2009, from her school in Woodstock, Ont. She was found dead three months later in a field about 100 kilometres away from her school.
During her testimony Tuesday, McClintic recalled how Rafferty had casually brought up the subject of abducting someone. McClintic simply ignored those statements out of a desire to make her relationship work.
But on the day Tori disappeared, McClintic testified that she was high on prescription drugs and riding in Rafferty's car when he pressed her again on kidnapping someone, court heard.
As the couple drove past Oliver Stephens Public School the day Tori went missing, Rafferty asked McClintic to prove that she wasn't simply "all talk."
McClintic has already pleaded guilty in April 2010 to first-degree murder. She is serving a life sentence in prison.
"I said ‘do what, you just want me to grab somebody?'" McClintic told the court Tuesday. "He said it would be easy.'(They're) getting out of school now. All you have to do is talk about dogs or candy or something like that."'
Rafferty wanted to abduct a "young female, because the younger they were, the easier they were to manipulate," McClintic testified.
Only three months into their relationship, McClintic had ignored previous indications from Rafferty that he had dark sexual desires, the court heard.
She again attempted to block out his statements as the couple approached the school, according to testimony.
"There'd be times that he would say things. We would be driving past schools and he would make a comment like, 'it would be so easy to do this,' " McClintic testified.
"He had made a comment once before when we were driving, saying, 'Would you think it was weird if I asked you if you think it was weird to kidnap somebody," McClintic told the jury.
Later, Rafferty parked nearby the school, and McClintic planned to head to the schoolyard but come back empty-handed, court heard. But when she walked up to a home-bound Tori and started talking to her, the pair approached Rafferty's car, where he yelled at them to hurry, the jury heard.
Later, as the couple drove along Highway 401, Rafferty began looking for a place to pull over and said "we can't just keep her, but we can't take her back," court heard.
"I remember him telling me to look for a spot. I said 'A spot for what?' and he didn't answer me," she told the jury.
McClintic also testified that Rafferty began touching himself as he pulled his car over in a field outside of Woodstock.
"I believed he was going to rape Tori," McClintic testified. "I didn't stay there and watch. I can't really give you play-by-play."
Later, McClintic told the court that she started kicking Tori in the field, and later struck the girl's head with a hammer. The court also heard that Tori's head was covered with a garbage bag.
Once Rafferty had "cleaned up," the couple moved the body to a rock pile in the field, court heard.
Three months later, Tori was found dead in the field.
Earlier on Tuesday, McClintic spoke about her troubled childhood and teenage years, which included substance abuse and convictions for assault. The eighth-grade drop-out also spoke about being physically abused as a child.
The trial continues.
With a report from The Canadian Press
