This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
Michael Rafferty, 31, is convicted of first-degree murder in the death of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford and is to appear at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in London, Ont. He was found guilty on Friday of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in the death of Tori.
“It’s really no different. Other than the trial being over there’s really no difference, Tori’s still not coming home. But there is a sense of closure for all our family in the sense that this monster will be going away for a long time,” Tori’s father Rodney Stafford said.
Rafferty and his ex-girlfriend Terri-Lynne McClintic abducted the little girl who was last seen outside an elementary school in Woodstock, Ont., on April 8, 2009.
Det. Sgt. Jim Smyth told the London jury: “I could see a portion of a garbage bag underneath the rocks. I moved one rock aside. I touched the bag because I didn’t know if it was a piece of scrap.” Inside the bag was Tori’s remains, he told the court.
In 2010, Rafferty’s ex-girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Stafford’s death and was sentenced to life in prison. Later she testified against Rafferty and accused him of being the master mind behind the entire tragedy. Rafferty is facing a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
“It’s very easy to think of others in a situation like this because in the last three years myself and my family have been on an emotional roller coaster from hell,” Stafford said. “And to think there are other people out there with family members who haven’t come home yet, it breaks my heart, it’s unbelievable.”
Be the first to comment