The mother of murdered Dunedin woman Sophie Elliott says she intends to focus her energies on steering young people away from abusive and dangerous relationships.
Speaking from Christchurch yesterday, Lesley Elliott said she felt "quite strongly" about the matter.
She had no specific plans, but somehow wanted to reach young men and women in their late teens and 20s and help them explore what was, and was not, acceptable behaviour in a relationship.
She had some ideas, including speaking at high schools and developing some sort of checklist, but needed time at home first before embarking on the next part of what she called "her legacy to Soph".
After a tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship characterised by tears, arguing, making up and at least one physical assault, Sophie Elliott was violently killed by ex-boyfriend Clayton Weatherston in her bedroom at the Elliott family home in January last year.
Weatherston, a former University of Otago tutor, was found guilty of her murder on Wednesday after arguing for four and a-half weeks in the High Court at Christchurch that Miss Elliott had provoked him into killing her.
Her daughter would have been pleased with the murder conviction, Mrs Elliott said, but she felt there was more she could do.
"I don't want other young girls to go through the same thing."
Since Sophie's death, she had heard of other girls in the same situation, including Weatherston's former girlfriend - whose name was suppressed in court - whose mother who had also started looking into what could be done about educating young women about abusive relationships.
Mrs Elliott said that from the start, she had had a feeling about Weatherston.
"Within three weeks, I thought `I'm not any hearing any nice things' and I was telling her that she should be happy, but she carried on with him."
She spent endless hours in the last five months of her daughter's life trying to give her daughter advice while she cried and spilled everything out.
"I used to tell her all the time `Soph, you don't have to stick with this crap from him [Weatherston]. There are hundreds of nice men out there'."
Sophie's friends had also had misgivings about Weatherston.
They did not like him, but could not really put their finger on why, Erin van de water said.
"Never ever did we think he would do this."
Mrs Elliott said, as a nurse, she worked in an area where she saw much physical and mental abuse, but even she missed the signs in Sophie's relationship with Weatherston.
She was now in a good position to help others, she said.
"I've had direct experience and I know what the relationship was like for Sophie. Maybe, my sort of voice might be seen [as] less threatening than others."
She was prepared to put much time into the project, but that would happen after she had returned to Dunedin and had some time to herself.
"It's just such a shame these things have to happen for people to stand up and take notice of this sort of thing."
