'I never heard him say a word' - mother tells court of stabbing

Lesley Elliott (inset) told the court she forced her way into her daughter's room to find her being stabbed. Photos / Supplied, Herald on Sunday

The mother of Sophie Elliott has told a court how the whole bedroom seemed to be covered in blood when she walked in on her daughter being stabbed to death.

Lesley Elliott told the High Court today she managed to force her way into Sophie's locked bedroom, after hearing her screams, and found her with her former boyfriend Clayton Weatherston straddling her body and stabbing her.

"The whole room seemed to be red," Mrs Elliott said.

"He was kneeling, straddled over her legs. He was stabbing her with a knife. I thought he was going right through her," she said.

"I never heard him say a word."

Weatherston, 33, a former Otago University tutor, is on trial for the murder of Miss Elliott, 22, in the bedroom of her Dunedin family on January 9 last year.

Miss Elliott died after suffering 216 stabbing or cutting wounds. Weatherston denies murdering Miss Elliott, but has admitted manslaughter. He says he was provoked by Miss Elliott and lost control.

Mrs Elliott told the court she was speaking with a 111 operator when she entered her daughter's bedroom.

"I screamed and screamed: 'He's killed her, he's killed her.'"

Her death came after the pair had ended a relationship.

About midday on January 9, 2008, Mrs Elliott said she was in the kitchen of the family home and her daughter was in her bedroom packing for a move to Wellington to start a new job with the Treasury.

About 12.15pm there was a knock at the door, and she peered through a window to see Weatherston.

"I was somewhat surprised. For all intents and purposes, as far as I knew Sophie wasn't going to see him again and the relationship was very definitely over."

She opened the door and Weatherston told her he had something to give Miss Elliott. He seemed friendly and relaxed.

Miss Elliott had heard the knock on the door and came down the stairs from her bedroom.

Mrs Elliott said her daughter mouthed to her "who is it", and when she told her, Miss Elliott "raised her eyes to the ceiling".

Weatherston came in, and Miss Elliott told him if he wanted to talk they would have to go up to her bedroom because she was busy. Weatherston was holding a supermarket bag with something orange or yellow in it.

Mrs Elliott said she became nervous because of a previous assault by Weatherston her daughter had recounted. So she turned off her radio to try to listen in.

"I couldn't hear anything. I was extremely nervous."

She heard the bathroom door close upstairs, and then she saw her daughter standing in the kitchen. She asked her daughter what was going on, and Miss Elliott said she didn't know and "he's just standing there".

Miss Elliott went back upstairs to her room.

"The next second she was screaming."

Miss Elliott was saying "stop it Clayton" or "don't Clayton".

Mrs Elliott said she tore upstairs and tried to get into her daughter's room.

"I tried the door and it was locked. I was belting it and kicking it."

Miss Elliott stopped screaming and then Mrs Elliott said she could hear a "thumping".

Mrs Elliott said she ran downstairs and got a metal meat skewer to get the bedroom door open and "help Soph".

Back upstairs she heard "a couple of sighs" and the thumping continuing.

"In my mind I thought Clayton was raping her."

Mrs Elliott managed to open the door enough to step inside.

"Sophie was dead. Clayton was still standing there. She was deathly white."

Miss Elliott was lying in the corner of the bedroom on her back, with blood on her body, as Weatherston kept stabbing her.

Mrs Elliott said she was screaming, and Weatherston leaned over and pushed the door closed.

"He pushed the door closed in my face and I obviously stepped back.

"I don't know why I stepped out of the room... I wished I hadn't but I did. I didn't resist him closing the door."

Mrs Elliott had used a cellphone to call 111. She got instructions from the 111 operator to listen for what was happening.

"She just kept reassuring me that (police) were coming."

Earlier Mrs Elliott told the court of her daughter recounting an assault at the hands of Weatherston.

Mrs Elliott said her daughter had told her of an incident 13 days before the killing in which she visited Weatherston to take him a photo album.

Miss Elliott said the visit turned nasty after he suggested they have sex and she told him he was not getting the message that their relationship was over. When she tried to leave his flat he grabbed her around the neck with one hand, and over the mouth with the other.

He then threw her on the bed and she began screaming, her daughter recounted.

When she finally left the flat, Weatherston told her he hoped a plane she was going to travel on would crash.

Miss Elliott came home crying and upset, Mrs Elliott said. She did not want to go to the police because she had no injuries to show them and was going to be leaving for Wellington soon.

Mrs Elliott said her daughter later saw Weatherston again, at his university office, and re-enacted on Weatherston what he had done to her with his hands.

As she was leaving, Weatherston shoved Miss Elliott and said "I'm just giving you my hate", Mrs Elliott said.