The emotional extremes of the relationship between Sophie Elliott and the ex-boyfriend who killed her were under the spotlight in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.
Clayton Robert Weatherston (33), then a part-time lecturer and tutor in the University of Otago economics department, is charged with murdering Miss Elliott at her Ravensbourne home on January 9 last year.
He stabbed or cut the 22-year-old honours student 216 times when he attacked her in her bedroom the day before she was due to leave for a job with Treasury.
Weatherston denies the charge of murder, although he has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The defence says he killed Miss Elliott because he was provoked into losing self control by the emotional pain of the relationship with Sophie and because she attacked him with a pair of scissors.
The Crown says the number and pattern of the injuries showed a controlled attack deliberately targeting areas of attractiveness and physical beauty.
During the second half of 2007, the pair were in a relationship described by various witnesses as "on again, off again".
At times, Sophie was extremely happy, and at others she was very unhappy and full of self-doubt.
The trial, before Justice Judith Potter and a jury of eight men and four women, is expected to take about three weeks.
Robin Bates and Marie Grills appear for the Crown, with Weatherston represented by Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, assisted by Greg King (Wellington) and junior counsel Luke Macris (Dunedin).
Under cross-examination yesterday, Sophie's best friend, Jessica Smith, agreed the relationship was one of extremes.
She believed it was an unwise involvement, given Weatherston was one of Sophie's teachers.
But she agreed that, apart from one incident when she saw Sophie upset after Weatherston failed to keep a social appointment, everything she knew about the situation came from Sophie.
She recalled Sophie's comments about being sexually dissatisfied with Weatherston "on many levels" - and agreed her friend could be "fairly graphic", even talking about the size of body parts.
Sophie had also discussed relationships with other partners and was perhaps making comparisons "in a roundabout way".
Miss Smith said she did not recall Sophie talking about assaulting Weatherston, but was "vaguely aware" of something about attacking and scratching a former partner.
During a three-week Australian holiday in November 2007, Sophie got very drunk and had a brief sexual encounter with an Australian man and also with a Dutchman, who was possibly going to catch up with her in Wellington.
Miss Smith agreed she knew Sophie was involved with a married man in Dunedin, but also that her friend accepted the man was not going to leave his wife.
Another good friend through Sophie's part-time job, Erin van de Water, described the relationship as "odd".
She and Sophie often discussed their personal lives, and Sophie's comments about Weatherston were often quite negative.
It was not often someone would say their boyfriend had told them he was "far too good" for them, and that she was "very lucky to be seeing him as he was so much better than her", Miss van de Water said.
Sophie always seemed to be wondering whether they had a real relationship, and said Weatherston had talked about spending quality time with an ex-girlfriend who, Sophie said, was his mother's favourite.
Sophie would also mention positive things Weatherston had said, Miss van de Water told the court.
But she believed the relationship badly affected Sophie's self-esteem, as she became much less confident about herself and voiced concern she was in fact ugly.
Her perception was the relationship was over by the end of 2007, the witness said.
Sophie came to her house on December 27 looking shaky and flushed and told her of an incident at Weatherston's house earlier in the day when the situation turned "nasty".
Weatherston started shouting at her, throwing her on his bed and putting his arm against her throat.
He told her how ugly she was, saying her chin was too pointy, her eyes too far apart, that her looks were disgusting.
He made insulting remarks about her breasts, her stomach and her hair, all areas the Crown says were targeted when Weatherston stabbed Sophie to death.
Early in January when they were out for the evening, Sophie mentioned she had taken a cheque to Weatherston to pay for damage she had caused to a door.
She described how Weatherston denied the December 27 assault and told her people would not believe her because she was "crazy".
After she became angry with him and did to him what he had done to her on December 27, Sophie said Weatherston chased her to the stairs and pushed her, accusing her of ruining his chances of getting a lecturing position.
He had said he had a new girlfriend who was "10ft tall" and "far better than she was".
The group of them joked about it and were laughing about "the crazy man", Miss van de Water said.
To Mrs Ablett-Kerr QC, the witness agreed she told the police she thought Weatherston was a ". . . dick" from the very beginning.
But she had not elaborated.
She said she was unaware of Sophie's injuries when she made a statement in March listing the areas of her body Sophie said Weatherston had made insulting remarks about.
She agreed Sophie was concerned Weatherston was not performing sexually and worried it was her fault, that maybe she was not sexy enough.
But she could not be specific about details of conversations in which they jokingly compared the sexual performance of past and current partners on a 1 to 10 scale.
That had been "fun, girly stuff", Miss van de Water said.
What she could remember well were Sophie's serious concerns about not being sexy and her feelings of insecurity.
Sophie had mentioned to her that she and Weatherston had agreed from the beginning the relationship would not continue once she moved to Wellington.
But she also recalled Sophie being upset when Weatherston decided not to see her for a particular week.
It was a "totally topsy-turvy relationship", Miss van de Water said.
Sophie felt like a puppet, and it seemed Weatherston could decide whether the relationship was on or off.
When she had seen him holding hands and dancing with other women, she told Sophie, the witness said.
She agreed she had been "pretty keen" to ensure the relationship did not continue, her reasoning being that if it was serious, Weatherston should not have been out with other females.
