MEDIA RELEASE – 22 July 2009

Trial Unfair To Sophie, Says Women’s Refuge

Women’s Refuge says the trial of Clayton Weatherston for the murder of Sophie Elliot was a national disgrace.

Women’s Refuge Chief Executive, Heather Henare said, “Because of the way the defence was run, this trial became a perverse opportunity for a killer to continue to persecute his victim and her family after her death.”
“Sophie Elliot did not deserve her death and she did not deserve to have her character so scrupulously undermined. It seems so unfair that we have had no opportunity to hear about the person she actually was.”

“I was horrified to hear her mother described as an unreliable witness by the defence. I feel, as I’m sure we all do, great sympathy for Sophie’s family under these terrible circumstances.”

“I believe there will be a strong and justifiably angry reaction to the way this trial proceeded. New Zealanders hearing so many of the details and seeing Weatherston taking the stand will have been absolutely dumbfounded that this remorseless killer has had a platform for his justifications and excuses – televised and thoroughly reported by the media.”

“Louise Nicholas was similarly failed by the justice system and I think we need to look very hard at ways to improve on a society that is letting women down in this way. We need legal processes that encourage confidence in the system, but what we are seeing instead creates great disillusionment for women.”

“Everyone must have a fair trial, of course, but I think we need to be asking whether a trial like this actually represents any kind of justice whatsoever.”
“Commonsense needs to prevail and the system for trying murder cases needs a thorough re-evaluation.”

“The current provocation defence, for example, is based on absolutely archaic notions about violence. Once upon a time, society accepted that an affront to male privilege or dignity was a reasonable excuse to fly into a homicidal rage.”
“I cannot accept that as a 21stcentury, developed nation, we have not evolved beyond that point. And yet that was a critical part of the defence used in this case. It may be that we need to revisit the provocation defence, or perhaps look at degrees of murder. Perhaps mitigating circumstances need to be taken into account in the sentencing.”

Ms Henare said, “This trial turned justice inside out – the killer became the victim and Sophie Elliot was portrayed to us all as he chose to describe her. Unfortunately for Clayton Weatherston, the jury didn’t buy it and nor did the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who watched him giggling on their televisions.”

“I hope we were all shocked enough to ask what went wrong? I hope we will look past the things that were said about Sophie and realise that she was an innocent person, who did nothing wrong and was not on trial. She deserved better.”

“Although she was robbed of her future, perhaps Sophie’s legacy to the nation will be a fairer system for victims in years to come.”

ends

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