Clayton Weatherston stands in the dock of the Dunedin High Court. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Clayton Weatherston stands in the dock of the Dunedin High Court. Photo / Otago Daily Times
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The Dunedin District Court has been told murder-accused Clayton Weatherston wanted Sophie Elliott dead because she ruined his chances of a job in Otago University's economics department.
The Dunedin District Court also heard Weatherston was worried his relationship with Ms Elliott would affect his chances of getting apermanent job at Otago University.
The 32-year-old former economics tutor is accused of murdering Ms Elliott on January 9, by stabbing her more than 200 times in her Dunedin home.
The couple had recently ended their relationship and Ms Elliott was due to move to Wellington for a job with Treasury.
Weatherston's former Otago University colleague, senior economic lecturer Robert Alexander, has given evidence on day two of the depositions hearing, saying he can clearly remember the comments Ms Elliott made to him the day before she was killed.
He says she told him Weatherston said he wished her plane had crashed on the way back from a recent holiday in Australia, and that he wished her dead because she ruined his chances of a job in Otago University's economics department.
Dr Alexander says Weatherston had little chance of gaining a permanent job at the university, but not necessarily because of his relationship with Ms Elliott.
He says Mr Weatherston had caused trouble in his department, by accusing two senior colleagues of plagiarism and stealing his ideas.
The senior lecturer says those accusations would have affected Weatherston's chances of a full-time position, more than his relationship with Ms Elliott.
