The atmosphere in courtroom 1 in Christchurch yesterday reflected the harrowing circumstances of the Sophie Elliott murder.
As the sentencing judge laid out the case, the 100 people present were silent and sombre.
When Justice Judith Potter read her decision to send Clayton Weatherston to prison for at least 18 years, the silence became deafening.
Weatherston remained calm throughout, his bloodshot eyes constantly shifting around the room, perhaps conscious that where he sat in the dock, all eyes were on him.
Listening intently to everything, he showed little reaction, offering only an almost imperceptible shake of his head when he disagreed with something said. Most fervently, he appeared to disagree with the prosecution as it suggested he had lied and other witnesses had told the truth.
As his father, Roger, fought off tears while reading a statement urging his son to apologise publicly, Weatherston sat with head bowed, weeping quietly. When the apology came, albeit though his lawyer, there was no obvious reaction from the Elliott family.
Sitting in their usual place in the front row of the public gallery, family members, at various times, closed their eyes and shook their heads as once again they heard the agonising details of their daughter's and sister's last moments. Sophie Elliot's grandmother removed her hearing aid to avoid the worst.
In the crowded gallery was the jury foreman at Weatherston's trial, waiting to hear the fate he and 10 others had set in train nine weeks ago.
He sat behind Weatherston's mother, Yuleen, whose only visible concession to emotion was a brief moment staring into space, as she prepared to hear her youngest son handed the inevitable life sentence.
There were no tears when the words finally came, no gasps or outbursts. All of these, for the time being, were spent. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come
