His lawyer Dirk Derstine made that announcement as he began the defence portion of the trial Tuesday.

Rafferty's testimony was considered crucial to counter the story told by his former girlfriend Terri-Lynne McClintic earlier in the trial.

While McClintic confessed to killing 8-year old Victoria Stafford with a hammer, she said Rafferty plotted the kidnapping and sexually assaulted the girl.

She has been convicted of Stafford's murder and is serving a life sentence.

Derstine has suggested Rafferty was an innocent dupe and McClintic was the mastermind. But the jury will not hear that version of events from Rafferty.

After the defence rests the trial will likely recess for a couple of days before the closing arguments and the judge's charge to the jury.

Court heard Tuesday from a woman who said she witnessed Tori's abduction at Oliver Stephens school. She is the first and only defence witness.

Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in the April 8, 2009 disappearance of Stafford.

The Woodstock, ON, girl was lured away after school by a woman later identified as McClintic, one of Rafferty's girlfriends.

McClintic, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in April 2010 and testified against Rafferty at his trial. She spent six days on the stand, first giving a detailed and at times emotional description of the abduction, then defending herself against an intense cross-examination by Derstine.

Derstine suggested McClintic was the driving force behind the abduction, offered Tori as a sexual gift for Rafferty, and killed the girl after Rafferty refused. McClintic rejected that theory.

Tori's disappearance drew national attention. Even veteran police officers lost their composure on the stand during the trial.

Tori's teacher, Jennifer Griffin-Murrell, prompted tears throughout the courtroom as she described saying goodbye for the last time to the cheery, charming little girl.

The Crown opened its case March 5 and finished April 27, calling 61 witnesses and filing 185 exhibits.