Murder accused Clayton Robert Weatherston said today his girlfriend Sophie Elliott had been told before their first meeting that he was arrogant and self-centred, while he found her forward and flirtatious.
He was giving evidence on the second day of his trial in the High Court in Christchurch for murdering Miss Elliott on January 9, 2008. He has admitted her manslaughter.
He stabbed her 216 times in the locked bedroom of her home in Dunedin as her mother tried to get into the room.
He told the jurors their first meeting was in May 2007 when she came to his office seeking help to prepare for interviews in Wellington.
He gave her advice and they got to know each other in further conversations in the weeks that followed.
He said she invited him to her home to watch a DVD and he slept the night in her bed, but they did not have sex.
The next day, she visited him and they showered together but did not have sex because they did not have protection.
They went to a 21st party together, and went drinking at bars with the group.
He was concerned when she talked explicitly about an ex-boyfriend. At a later meeting, she produced her diary with a list of 20 things she did not like about her boyfriend. Item seven was that he was not particularly good in bed.
Weatherston said that after the first time he had sex with Miss Elliott, the two discussed things they liked about each other.
"She raised concerns that the things she liked about me were also the thing she didn't like about me - that I was attractive to other girls by virtue of being sociable," he said.
Weatherston admitted assaulting an earlier girlfriend, but told the court that some of the violence was unintentional.
The former girlfriend, who has name suppression, has already given her account of the incident in 2006, when she said Weatherston kicked her and jumped on her back, causing a bleeding nose.
Asked what caused the attack, Weatherston said he had some concerns about finance - he felt he was subsidising the woman's lifestyle - and he was worried about his academic future.
Funding was running out and there was uncertainty about his job.
He said he kicked the woman once on the right shoulder, and intended jumping over her but clipped the top of her head causing her nose go into her right knee.
"I felt terrible," he told the court.
He said he had been concerned about his health after a bout of glandular fever, and had been prescribed fluoroxitine hydrochloride to stop his lethargy. He could not recall if he had been taking his drug at that time of that assault.
Weatherston spent much of his time in the dock this morning covering his career, personal life, and professional relationships.
He also told of being sent to see a psychiatrist in 1998 over an "anxiety-related issue".
About 2000 he underwent counselling and was referred to a psychiatrist for an anti-depressant.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
