One of New Zealand’s most violent murderers will appear before the Parole Board for the first time this week.
And 18 years on from one of the country’s most horrific domestic violence killings, his victim’s family are still wondering what really motivated his anger and brutality.
Clayton Robert Weatherston was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Sophie Elliott.
In January 2008, Weatherston stabbed the 22-year-old more than 200 times, then mutilated her body with her own scissors at her family home in Dunedin.
Elliott’s mother, Lesley, was home at the time and tried frantically to get into her daughter’s bedroom where the horrific attack was taking place.
She managed to pry the door open momentarily – long enough to see her fatally injured daughter lying on the floor being attacked.
At a high-profile and controversial trial, Weatherston - who had been a tutor at Otago University - argued Elliott had “provoked” him into killing her.
The brutal crime took place on Weatherston’s 32nd birthday.
He turned 50 earlier this month - on the 18th anniversary of Elliott’s death.
Weatherston is now eligible for parole.
He will appear before the Parole Board on Friday and it is assumed he will make submissions in support of his release from prison.
Weatherston’s sentence means that unless the Parole Board is satisfied he no longer poses a risk to the safety of the public, he will remain in prison until he dies.
If he can convince the board that there is a low to zero chance he will reoffend, he will be released into the community.
In that case, he would be subject to strict conditions for the rest of his life – meaning he could be recalled to prison immediately for any breaches or new offending.
Elliott’s father, Gil, spoke to the Herald ahead of Friday’s hearing.
“Sophie was a lovely girl, just 22, just starting to emerge into adulthood,” he said.
“She had gone right through school and university and was just coming out the other side and with her first class honours degree in economics – and she was really looking forward to graduating in May.
“But of course, he killed her before that.”
Gil Elliott said he was “a little bit nervous” about the parole hearing.
“Because I don’t know what the Parole Board are going to do.
“I hope that they will keep him in ... I’m going to ask them for a postponement order, which means that if they decide to keep him in [...] that he could be kept in for three to five years before they actually talk to him again about parole.
“I’m going to ask for that as we don’t want him to be getting a parole hearing every year.”
Gil Elliott said he was not expecting any change of tune from Weatherston.
He recalled a psychiatrist telling the jury during the trial that Weatherston was an obsessive narcissist prone to “narcissistic rage”.
He is sure Weatherston will still blame his victim for “provoking” his violence that day in 2008.
“Who would know what he thinks, though ... I would just be guessing,” Gil Elliott said.
“I hope that the board consider that ... that narcissists don’t change – that they are wired back to front.
“Once a narcissist, always a narcissist. They are like leopards; they don’t change their spots.
“I consider that he is unpredictable, and it would be a danger to the public if they let him out.”
He believed Weatherston should have got a “harsher” sentence – a longer minimum non-parole period.
“One could say that the sentence that he got was manifestly inadequate,” he said.
“I don’t think 18 years was enough for what he did to Sophie at all ... after all, he defiled her as well when she was dead.
“Sophie got the life sentence, didn’t she?
“That’s the bottom line. She got the life sentence. He didn’t ... And we think that that’s totally wrong.”
Lesley Elliott died in 2022.
After her daughter’s murder, she became a vocal advocate for intimate partner violence and abuse and set up the Sophie Elliott Foundation to help raise awareness of the warning signs.
She also wrote a book about her harrowing experience the day of her daughter’s murder – and the aftermath.
Gil Elliott was pleased his former wife would not have to live through numerous parole hearings.
The prosecution process and appeals were, he said, bad enough.
“We attended all the hearings, the deposition, trial and so on.
“And at trial, he just tried to besmirch Sophie’s name and say that she wasn’t a very nice person at all ... Of course, we couldn’t do anything – we just had to sit there and listen to this.
“And because the prosecutors are prosecuting on behalf of the Crown, not on behalf of the victim ... they couldn’t actually challenge what the defence was saying in terms of nasty things about Sophie.
“And we just had to sit there and listen to it and knowing that it wasn’t correct, but there was nothing we could do about it. So, it was pretty bad.
“It was just so unbelievable ... I guess you’d call it re-victimisation.”
Gil Elliott said he thought about his daughter every day.
“We don’t have her, and we would have really loved to have had her ... to watch her grow up and watch her do really well,” he said.
“She may have married – we won’t have a son-in-law, we won’t have any grandchildren ... we won’t have any of that – that’s all been taken away from us.
“She was that determined, and that bright ... so we missed out on that. She’s missed out on that – and her brothers have missed out on that.
“And ... we never knew why he did it. Does he know why he did it, really?”
The Herald is attending Weatherston’s parole hearing and will report the result when permitted.
The case will feature in an upcoming episode of Herald podcast A Moment In Crime.
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz