Ontario judges reject appeal in Tori Stafford murder

Ontario's top court hasdismissed an appeal by the man convicted of killing eight-year-old Victoria Stafford seven years ago.

Michael Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 with nochance of parole for 25 years for kidnapping, sexual assault causingbodily harm and first-degree murder in the death of the Woodstock,Ont.,girl. He asked the court for a new trial on Monday.

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Rafferty'sformer girlfriend,Terri-LynneMcClintic, pleadedguilty in 2010 to first-degree murder, initially telling policeRaffertykilled the girl, but testifying at his trial that shedelivered the fatal blows.

The panel ofthreejudges with theCourt of Appeal for Ontario said they didn't acceptthe arguments presented by Rafferty's lawyer, Paul Calarco.

"You argued an extremely difficult appeal very well, but Isimply don't agree with you," said Appeal Court Justice JohnLaskin.

Among those on hand to hear the appeal were Victoria's mother,father, uncle, family friends and Woodstock police Chief BillRenton, who used to be with the Ontario Provincial Police and wasthe lead investigator on Victoria's murder. Family and supporterscheered when the judges dismissed the appeal.

"We were here wasting taxpayers' money, to be quite honest,"said Victoria's father, Rodney Stafford. "We really had no reasonto be here. All the information that was put forward in 2012 landedhim where he was and that's exactly where he deserves to be."

Family members in court were wearingVictoria'sfavourite colour, purple, in her memory.

"In a sense, we can move forward," Staffordsaid, adding that Rafferty can continue to "rot in prison."

Earlier,Calarcoarguedthat the trialjudge madeseveral errors, including failing to warn the jury against relyingon McClintic'stestimony. He also said the trial judge failed with the instructions to the jury.

The jury, for example, was not given the option of findingRafferty guilty of being an accessory after the fact, he said.

Calarco said some of Rafferty's actions after the killing such as cleaning his car, disposing of clothing and giving a false alibi were consistent with being an accessory.

But Laskin said they were "not equally consistent on thisrecord, Mr. Calarco not even close to being equally consistent."

Calarcoalsocalled McClintic an unsavoury character with a history of violence and lying.

"She's an unmitigated liar," he said.

He argued that McClintic lured the victim on her own and then told Rafferty to walk away before she hitStaffordwith a hammer.

The judges dismissed Rafferty'sappeal beforehearing the Crown's arguments.

The Crown was expected to argue the judge gave a fair and balanced chargeand it would have been impossible for the jury to have been unaware of McClintic's credibility problems.

The court will issue its reasons for the dismissal later.