Clayton Weatherston says he\u00a0murdered his ex-girlfriend\u00a0because he was \u201cfull of an uncontrollable rage\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0former University of Otago lecturer, who recently turned 50, has been in prison for 18 years over the\u00a0harrowing\u00a0murder\u00a0of 22-year-old Sophie Elliott, whom he\u00a0stabbed more than 200 times in her Ravensbourne home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parole\u00a0Board this morning\u00a0decided\u00a0Weatherston would spend at least another\u00a022 months\u00a0behind bars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hearing\u00a0marked his first appearance before the\u00a0board\u00a0and he cut a different figure from the man who sat through\u00a0the\u00a0five-week trial in the High Court at Christchurch in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston\u2019s glasses and beard\u00a0remained, his hair receding and a little\u00a0shorter, but\u00a0he\u00a0wore a tight,\u00a0grey prison-issue t-shirt\u00a0and shorts\u00a0accentuating\u00a0a\u00a0new\u00a0muscular physique.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His counsel Roger Eagles said at the hearing\u2019s outset that parole was not being pursued today given the rehabilitative work the inmate was yet to undertake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The board heard three reports had diagnosed Weatherston as having a \u201csevere personality disorder\u201d with narcissism and\u00a0concluded he\u00a0presented\u00a0a high risk\u00a0to\u00a0potential\u00a0partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the parole hearing, which lasted more than an hour, the killer was probed on all aspects of the case\u00a0by the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Jeremy Skipworth asked Weatherston what drove him to\u00a0mutilate\u00a0Ms\u00a0Elliott\u00a0so brutally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my offending was alleviating the sense of frustration in the internal world I created for myself, my distress and negative thought process around that,\u201d the\u00a0prisoner said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Sophie, a lot of things were going on in the relationship . . . I was full of an uncontrollable rage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston explained that he transferred his own insecurities and self-loathing onto the victim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just\u00a0a really inarticulate,\u00a0brutal\u00a0and visceral way of wiping someone out, who you feel at the time has hurt you in every way possible,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0concerned by the primal urges and impulsive aspects of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReflecting some more, it was just an \u2018F you\u2019 about everything about her and about that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0ashamed.\u00a0It was incredibly misguided.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At trial Weatherston used the partial\u00a0defence\u00a0of provocation, blaming\u00a0Ms\u00a0Elliott for his actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Significant public outcry and pressure from the Law Commission meant that legal avenue was abolished\u00a0in November 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston said today that he wished he had\u00a0taken a different tack at trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that shifting that blame and shifting the focus of my\u00a0behaviour\u00a0away from me onto Sophie was completely wrong,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was implicit, or explicit, in that\u00a0defence\u00a0and I certainly regret the nature of that court process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Board member\u00a0Alan Hackney asked Weatherston whether he experienced nightmares or flashbacks from the\u00a0incident on January 9, 2008.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, all those things,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston described his anxiety,\u00a0shame\u00a0and the intrusive\u00a0thoughts that entered his mind when alone in his cell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He put it down to \u201cextreme regret for the tragedy of the whole situation\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Hackney, though, noted Weatherston had described\u00a0such\u00a0trauma \u201cincredibly calmly\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s\u00a0not something that\u2019s\u00a0easy to deal with but some days I get very emotional\u00a0about it. Some days I\u00a0say\u00a0\u2018you just\u00a0have to\u00a0accept\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0happened and move forward\u2019,\u201d the inmate said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moments later he was passed a box of tissues to dry his eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Large portions\u00a0of the discussions between Weatherston and the board revolved around his acceptance, or otherwise, of the\u00a0psychologists\u2019\u00a0diagnoses of his\u00a0narcissism and high-risk status.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While at times he\u00a0appeared to accept\u00a0their collective assessment – \u201cWho am I to disagree?\u201d – there were times when he\u00a0seemed to doubt\u00a0it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the severity of\u00a0the narcissism\u00a0in one of the reports is\u00a0maybe slightly\u00a0overstated. I think\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a lot of evidence to show\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0cooperative and self-directed,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The board heard Weatherston had spent more than\u00a01000 hours\u00a0reading widely about psychology in a bid to understand his\u00a0behaviour\u00a0and prepare himself for therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He told board member Dr Julia Ioane he\u00a0began by\u00a0studying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So\u00a0what had he learned?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShit happens and we have to drop anchor and deal with it,\u201d Weatherston said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said his readings had prompted him to reflect on the younger \u201chard-charging\u201d version of himself and his innate\u00a0lack of\u00a0self-worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no\u00a0[emotional]\u00a0literacy. I had nothing. I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know how I felt. I\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0acknowledge how angry I was,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr\u00a0Ioane\u00a0issued a gentle warning\u00a0not to treat the psychological work as an intellectual exercise\u00a0and\u00a0emphasised\u00a0the importance of listening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople go on about my\u00a0intellect\u00a0and I just think I\u2019m a battler,\u201d Weatherston said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had four supporters who attended today\u2019s hearing, three of whom\u00a0addressed the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One, who had\u00a0known\u00a0Weatherston for many years, described him as \u201ca\u00a0gentle gently\u00a0boy\u201d when he was younger and said she would always stand by\u00a0him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another told the board he had\u00a0witnessed\u00a0large changes\u00a0in the inmate\u2019s attitude but acknowledged there was a long way to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was underscored by Weatherston\u2019s case manager who said he would undergo psychological treatment in the next six months to address \u201cresponsivity\u201d issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From\u00a0there\u00a0it would be\u00a0determined\u00a0whether he could undertake group therapy or further individual sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston\u2019s lawyer Roger Eagles stressed the positives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne could be cautiously optimistic given\u00a0Mr\u00a0Weatherston\u2019s\u00a0strong motivation to deal with his issues that he might make rapid progress,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In declining\u00a0parole,\u00a0board chair Hon Jan-Marie\u00a0Doogue\u00a0said it would be a \u201clong road\u201d ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weatherston\u00a0will next see the board in November 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where to get help:<\/p>\n
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.<\/p>\n
Sexual Violence<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clayton Weatherston says he\u00a0murdered his ex-girlfriend\u00a0because he was \u201cfull of an uncontrollable rage\u201d.\u00a0 The\u00a0former University of Otago lecturer,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-259387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}