A TEENAGER accused of raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha MacPhail has told a court he would “never do something like that”.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, said he “never met Alesha MacPhail in person” when asked if he had attacked her on the Isle of Bute last July.
Asked if he “brutalised” her, he said: “It’s not me, absolutely not. I would never do something like that.”
Questioned if his “DNA is all over her” because he murdered and raped her, he said: “No”.
He also denies abducting her and attempting to hide evidence.
Yesterday, giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, he said he had been “fairly frequently” having sex with the woman he is blaming for Alesha’s death, Toni McLachlan, the girlfriend of Alesha’s father.
He said from October 2017 for most of the the winter they were “friends with benefits” and were “meeting up, having sex, smoking joints”.
He said her partner Robert MacPhail did not know as he and McLachlan were still a couple and she would complain he was abusing her.
The accused said in the early hours of July 2, the day Alesha’s body was found in woods on the island, he and McLachlan messaged on Instagram and met for a cigarette.
They met in a shelter outside the home where she was staying with MacPhail, Alesha and her grandparents, then went to a garage and had sex, before going their separate ways, the court heard. He said this was where he was heading when he was shown on CCTV leaving his home.
He has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming McLachlan. He said he believed McLachlan had been planning the murder “for months”.
The case continues.
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