LONDON, Ont. - WARNING: Graphic details from this case may disturb some readers.

DNA evidence and Michael Rafferty's unmistakable actions on the day Tori Stafford went missing should be enough to convince a jury that the man was an equal and willing participant in the horrific murder of the eight-year-old child, the Crown prosecutor surmised in his closing arguments on Tuesday.

Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey wasted no time telling the 12-person jury that Rafferty, like his co-accused Terri-Lynne McClintic, should be held responsible for what happened to Tori after she was lured away from Oliver Stephens Elementary School on April 8, 2009.

McClintic pleaded guilty in the case and served as the Crown's key witness against Rafferty, testifying that the 31-year-old man wanted to kidnap a child for a sexual purpose.

Rafferty has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, sexual abuse causing bodily harm and first-degree murder.

Gowdey spent the entire day refuting the defence's theory that McClintic was the engine behind the murderous plot and that Rafferty did not know exactly what she had planned.

"The whole day all he had to do if things were not right was drive away," Gowdey said. "He had the keys. It was his car."

Rafferty, dressed in a black suit jacket and polka-dot tie, leaned back against the prisoner's box, shaking his head often during Gowdey's remarks, at times rolling his eyes.

Nonetheless, Gowdey remained focused on Rafferty's behaviour. He pointed out repeatedly that it was Rafferty who drove the car the entire two-a-half hours Tori was in the backseat of the vehicle, that it was he who gave Terri-Lynne McClintic money to buy a hammer and garbage bags from a Home Depot and that it was his DNA that was meshed with Tori's blood on his car door.

Tori's blood

Forensics evidence has shown that Tori died from at least four blows to the head with a hammer as well as several blows to her torso.

Though McClintic changed her original account to police telling the jury it was she and not Rafferty who administered the fatal blows to Tori's body, Gowdey said the child's murder would not have been possible without Rafferty's involvement.

"He was in control of the money, the products they purchased and he was in control of the purchaser," he said. "Rafferty and McClintic were partners in their trip to Home Depot and what they did to Tori. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking they didn't do it together."

Tori's body was found three months after she disappeared, naked from the waist down, wrapped in garbage bags and placed underneath the shrubbery of a tree in between more than a dozen heavy rocks, some that weighed more than 100 pounds.

"It only makes sense, considering the size and weight of Stafford and the size and weight of those rocks that it was a two-person job," Gowdey told jurors. "Did they do this the way they had done everything else? Together."

The prosecutor took some time going over the DNA evidence found in Rafferty's car. Tori's blood was found on the rubber molding of the car door and microscopic traces of her blood were found on his gym bag. They also found a small piece of fabric, believed to have been part of his missing back seat.

Gowdey told jurors to use common sense while evaluating the evidence, saying that the evidence found inside Rafferty's car and his home as well as McClintic's home corroborates the 21-year-old woman's testimony.

She testified that Rafferty raped Tori in his backseat by the passenger door where the girl's blood was found. She said Rafferty instructed her to cut pieces of the backseat that were supposedly stained with blood. At one point, she ripped the seat with her hands, throwing the foam outside the car window as it drove along Highway 401. The seat and the bits of foam have never been located by police.

When Tori's body was found, forensic experts said the child's body was too decomposed to be able to determine if a sexual assault took place. Gowdey asked jurors to question why else the child would have been found naked from the waist down.

Gowdey also explained away the defence's theory that Tori's blood splattered onto the gym bag and door when she was bludgeoned with a hammer outside the car.

The blood traces on the gym bag could have been transferred from the backseat it rested on, Gowdey said. He also said the garbage bag that was put on top of Tori's head would have limited any blood splatter.

Rodney walks out

Though Gowdey refrained from recalling all the disturbing details of Tori's assault, he did once again show the jury photographs of the crime scene.

The photographs of the little girl's decomposed Hannah Montana t-shirt and her body wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed under a tree between a pile of rocks, was just too much for her father to bear.

Rodney Stafford walked out of the courtroom, telling media outside he was leaving for the day, unable to take another look at the fate that awaited his daughter.

He left without stopping to answer questions from reporters the way he has done almost every day since the trial began.

The photos were meant to remind jurors of just how secluded a spot it was and how it was likely chosen by someone who had ties to the area and knew the geography quite well.

Rafferty had ties to the Mount Forest area and likely came across the spot during his time there, Gowdey said. McClintic would not have as she was not from the area, living about two hours away in Woodstock.

"(McClintic and Tori were) chauffeured by Rafferty to that remote location," said Gowdey. "McClintic was a violent pawn that Rafferty used to make this happen for himself."

The Crown is expected to finish up its closing arguments Wednesday afternoon.

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