THE girlfriend of Alesha MacPhail’s father sobbed as she told a murder trial "I loved her to pieces" - and denied having anything to do with the little girl’s murder.
Toni-Louise McLachlan, 18, was called as a witness at the trial of a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who has blamed her for murdering Alesha.
Alesha, aged six, was found naked lying face down in woodland near an abandoned hotel on the Isle of Bute on July 2, hours after being reported missing from her grandparents’ house.
The teen accused of murder, rape, child abduction and defeating the ends of justice denies all the charges against him at the High Court in Glasgow.
The court heard that Ms McLachlan learnt on Monday that the teenager - who she admitted she used to sell drugs to - had blamed her for Alesha’s murder.
Ms McLachlan said she had received a Facebook message at around 1.47am and missed a call from the accused on Facebook messenger.
She tried to call him back around 6am as she thought it was "strange."
In a Facebook message exchange shown to the jury, Ms McLachlan asked the teen to "keep an eye out for Rab’s wee girl."
READ MORE: Alesha MacPhail’s dad admits to selling cannabis to teen accused of killing his daughter
Accused: ‘Sorry doesn’t matter ’
Toni replied: ‘Want to keep and eye out for Rab’s wee girl x’
Accused: ‘Yh how what’s happened?’
Toni: ‘She’s went missing...the police helicopter is out x’
Robert MacPhail outside the High Court in Glasgow
Accused: ‘Am sure she’s not gone too far x’
Toni: ‘Hopefully x’
READ MORE: Alesha MacPhail - Teen accused of rape and murder blames woman during trial
Ms McLachlan said the night that Alesha disappeared, she got out of bed to go to the toilet before going into the room where Alesha was sleeping, and switching off the child’s Peppa Pig DVD, the court heard.
She cried in the witness box as she recalled seeing Alesha sleeping - and said she fully closed the bedroom door.
Ms McLachlan said, on the morning of July 2, she saw she had a missed call from the accused.
She said she tried to return the call and thought it was "strange."
Ms McLachlan admitted she "used to sell weed" to the accused - but stopped because his mum asked him to.
When asked how long she had sold cannabis to him, Ms McLachlan said: “Not for a while, we had stopped selling to him because his mum told us to stop.”
She told the court: “I just couldn’t believe it, but I didn’t think anything bad had happened.
“I had lived in Rothesay all my life and thought it was a safe place.
“I thought she might’ve been in the garden.
READ MORE: Alesha MacPhail - Gran 'forgot to take key out of door' on night of alleged murder
“Me and Robert went out.
“We walked around the park pit Ardbeg where she liked to play, we checked back gardens and sheds.
“From there, we went into the town and we spoke to people at the ferry terminal and the shops.”
She said “a lot” of people helped with the search.
When asked by advocate depute Iain McSporran QC whether she had anything to do with the murder, she replied: “No.”
The court heard that Ms McLachlan learnt on Monday that the accused was blaming her for the murder.
The trial continues.
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