LONDON, Ont. - Michael Rafferty and former girlfriend Terri-Lynne McClintic "were in this together, together they are guilty," Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey told court Tuesday.

Beginning what he said would be a two-day-long closing argument to try to convict Rafferty for the abduction, rape and murder of Tori Stafford, 8, Gowdey reminded the jury any kidnapping or sexual assault that leads to death requires a first-degree murder conviction.

Rafferty, 31, and McClintic, 21, collaborated, Gowdey said. "Even if Terri-Lynne McClintic was the one with the hammer, it doesn't matter," he said.

Tori's battered body was found under a rock pile near Mount Forest, Ont., on July 19, 2009, 103 days after she was abducted outside her school in Woodstock, Ont.

It was the perfect crime scene, an isolated farm lane hundreds of metres off the main road "where no one will hear her (Tori's) screams," Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey told jurors in his final argument.

Terri-Lynne McClintic had no reason to direct Rafferty down the lane, which she could not help police locate after her own arrest, he said.

McClintic - Rafferty's former girlfriend who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2010 - did help create a detailed map of the crime scene and gave a graphic account of a sexual assault on Tori, which included her surrendering the pleading girl to Rafferty, Gowdey said.
"You could not make that up."

Rafferty, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in the disappearance of the Woodstock girl who vanished on her way home from school April 8, 2009.

Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine has suggested his client walked away from the car and was horrified to come back and find Tori dead at the hands of McClintic. But Rafferty did not testify and Gowdey said there is no evidence to back that story.

He said McClintic's accurate description of the area was consistent with a passive observer.

It's clear that Rafferty and McClintic worked together to cover and carry Tori's body and conceal it with heavy rocks, he said.

The body was well hidden and too decomposed for DNA evidence of sexual assault but he said it was the obvious reason why Tori's body was found naked from the waist down.

Gowdey's final argument continues Tuesday afternoon.