The jury in the trial of a teenager accused of raping and murdering Alesha MacPhail has been sent out to consider its verdict.
Alesha's family arrived at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday ahead of the decision relating to the 16-year-old accused, who denies the charges.
Judge Lord Matthews told the jury: "It's for you to decide which version you accept, which witnesses you believe and disbelieve and which you think are reliable and unreliable."
Alesha was reported missing from her grandparent's home on the Isle of Bute at 6am on July 2l ast year.
Her body was found in a wooded area a few hours later.
Prosecutors alleged that the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was armed with a knife when he took Alesha from her bed at the house on Ardbeg Road in Rothesay.
The boy is said to have "applied pressure" to the schoolgirl's face, inflicted injuries by "means unknown" before allegedly going on to rape and murder Alesha.
The boy denies abducting, raping and murdering the schoolgirl.
Speaking to the jury before they retired to consider their verdict, Lord Matthews said: "Suggestions made to witnesses are not evidence but it's whether they agree with the suggestions or not.
"You should consider all the evidence to see how, if at all, it fits together.
"Even the most honest witness trying their level best to tell the truth may be wrong.
"This could be due to time or consuming drugs or alcohol at the time something happened."
He added: "Emotions shouldn't play into your decision. At the end of the day, your duty is to return a true verdict according to the evidence."
Directing the jury on Thursday, judge Lord Matthews said that the burden of proof rests with the Crown.
Lord Matthews said: "Sympathy for the accused, Alesha, members of the family or anyone else must play no part in your deliberations nor any preconceptions about the crime."
He added: "Your duty is to return a true verdict according to the evidence."
The accused has lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Toni McLachlan, the partner of Alesha's father, for the schoolgirl's death.
Giving evidence last Wednesday, Ms McLachlan denied being responsible for Alesha's death, saying she "loved" the schoolgirl.
She also denied suggestions by the defence that she had sex with the accused on July 2, then planted his semen on Alesha, before "attacking and brutalising her" and murdering her.
The jury retired to consider its verdict on Thursday morning, the ninth day of the trial.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel