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

A 12-member jury panel is now deliberating all evidence presented at the Tori Stafford murder trial, in an effort to decide whether or not Michael Rafferty is guilty of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering the eight-year-old Woodstock girl.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Heeney gave careful instructions to a jury all day Thursday, telling the nine women and three men that while he was the judge of the law, they are the judge of the facts.

"As judges of the facts you have to decide what the facts are of the case," he said. "You, not I, will decide this case."

The case has been on trial since March 5, 2012 and wrapped up Wednesday night after two days of closing arguments from Crown Prosecutor Kevin Gowdey. Defence Attorney Dirk Derstine delivered his closing remarks to the jury on Monday.

Tori's father was back in court Thursday morning after abruptly leaving Tuesday afternoon as the Crown went over the lurid details of the case.

He told reporters before leaving court for the day that he needed a couple of days to himself and that it was hard for him to sit there and hear once again what happened to his young daughter.

Victoria "Tori" Stafford was lured away from her Woodstock elementary school on April 8, 2009. Her body was found three months later wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed between a pile of heavy rocks under a tree.

Her body was found badly beaten and naked from the waist down.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 21, eventually confessed to the crime, telling police Rafferty was complicit in the act.

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

McClintic at first told police in 2009 that it was Rafferty who hit Tori with a hammer and stomped on her body. She stuck to that story until January, 2012 but when she took the stand during the trial she told the court that it was in fact she who killed the child.

She explained her change of mind by saying she couldn't accept that she would be capable of such a heinous crime.

On Thursday, the judge addressed this change to the jury, telling them to weigh each of her statements equally.

"The fact a story is told more than once does not make it any more true or less true," he said.

He also cautioned the jury against taking the defence's theory as evidence.

The defence has said that it was McClintic who was the engine behind the crime, that it was her who targeted Tori to resolve a drug debt and that she was the one who killed the child. Defence lawyer Derstine surmised in his closing arguments that Rafferty was unaware of what McClintic had planned and was simply a horrified bystander.

The judge carefully went over all of the charges with the jury, explaining that the accused doesn't necessarily have to commit the crime to be found guilty. He explained the notion of aiding and abetting the principal crime offender.

"If you find that he was a party to the offence -- whether he personally took her away or aided McClintic in doing so -- if you are confident they acted together, it doesn't matter who did the kidnapping. They are both guilty," he said.

He also told the jury that if they accept the theory that McClintic was indeed the one who killed Tori then they have the option of finding Rafferty guilty of manslaughter if they believe that he intended to assist her but didn't know that she would inflict serious harm that would likely kill the child.

The jury was given "decision trees" that clearly outline the path they have to take to reach a verdict. Each branch has a question for jurors to answer, leading them down a path that -- depending on their answers -- will end with a verdict of guilty or not guilty.

The judge also talked about the notion of reasonable doubt, explaining the difficulty in coming to a conclusion based on "absolute certainty."

"Absolute certainty is a standard that is impossibly high," he said.

Rafferty's life "is before him"

Meanwhile outside the courtroom, Derstine addressed the media, telling reporters he could only imagine how his client was feeling as the trial approached its end.

"I'm not really all that comfortable speaking on how he's feeling," he said. "I mean you can only imagine how any of us would be feeling in his circumstance. Literally the rest of his life is before him right now."

He said Rafferty's not guilty plea should be indicative of how he is feeling hearing other people accuse him of the crimes.

"It's never easy for any one of us to sit in a room and hear other people taking about things you did if you don't agree with them," he said. "It's fair to say by his plea that he does not agree with a fair deal of what had happened. So you can only imagine what would be going through his mind at a time like that."

He said it was "difficult" sitting in court for the past two days listening to the Crown dismiss the theory he had presented to jurors and that everybody, including jurors, is feeling "tired" more than two months after the trial began.

"This case has been several years in development and it's gone on for a very long time," he said. "We 're tired, the Crowns are tired, the jury members are tired except that our role is pretty much over and their role is just beginning."

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