Sophie Elliott's parents reveal their pain

BY JOHN HARTEVELT

Last updated 13:51 22/07/2009

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DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

ORDEAL: Lesley Elliott said: 'The public face is different to the private face. It's been tough.'

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"The ugliness is behind us," Lesley Elliott said.

Eighteen months ago, she saw her daughter, Sophie Elliott, brutally stabbed to death in her Dunedin bedroom.

Today, Lesley Elliott heard the verdict she has been waiting for.

Clayton Robert Weatherston, 33, has been found guilty of the murder of Sophie Elliott, 22, on January 9 last year.

A relieved Lesley Elliott said: "It was the right decision."

"It's been a long 18 months for all of us and we needed to see justice for Sophie," she said.

Lesley Elliott gave evidence over two days of the trial at the High Court in Christchurch.

She told of walking in on Weatherston stabbing her daughter's lifeless body.

He stabbed her 216 times and mutilated her body.

"It was pretty hard," Lesley Elliott said.

"Despite the fact that I have had a lot of assistance over the last year to put some of that behind me, of course, I had to bring it all back up again."

Her husband, Gil Elliott, said the family was "apparently" strong through the trial.

"The public face is different to the private face. It's been tough," Lesley Elliott said.

"People say that I'm strong but I actually think it's the support of everybody else that makes you think you've got to do this for everybody.

"It does put the ugliness behind us."

Outside of the courtroom, Elliott embraced Weatherston's mother, Yuleen.

"We're parents, the same as they are, and it must have been really hard for them as it has been for us," Lesley Elliott said.

Yuleen Weatherston was described during the trial as a warm, loving woman. Like Lesley Elliott, she sat through the whole of the depositions in Dunedin last year and the five week trial.

In a statement read outside court Weatherston's father, Roger Weatherston said his family's thoughts were "very much with the Elliott family in their tremendous loss."

"We were shocked by what he did and shocked because it was out of character for the person we know," Roger Weatherston said.

"We are very sad that we did not recognise that Clayton needed the help that he clearly does."

Weatherston said his wife, daughter Angela and eldest son, Gareth would continue to love Clayton.

His voice cracked with emotion as he said: "We love him very much and will continue to do so."

"We were shocked by what he did and shocked because it was out of character for the person we know."

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