Ze Selassie was branded as "repugnant" by his own lawyer yesterday for his relationship with teenager Rhiana Moore but John Perry QC claimed this did not make him guilty of her murder.

However, prosecutor Michael McColm pointed out that 33-year-old Selassie is a self-confessed liar. He urged the Supreme Court jury to reject what the defendant says, and convict him of killing his young lover to get rid of her and their unborn child.

The lawyers made the comments during their closing speeches, bringing Selassie's two-week-long trial for premeditated murder into its final stages.

CedarBridge Academy student Rhiana, 14, went missing on the evening of Friday May 30 last year. She'd met with Selassie in secret after leaving her youth group meeting at Radnor Road Christian Fellowship in Hamilton Parish around 9.15 p.m.

Selassie, who was 18 years older than Rhiana, admits being involved in an illegal sexual relationship with the under-age girl and using her to satisfy his "raw sexual desire".

He also admits she was pregnant with his child unbeknown to anyone else and he was scared he'd be jailed once this news emerged.

The defendant told the jury during evidence on Tuesday that he met Rhiana in secret on the night of her disappearance for "sexual purposes." But he insisted they did not actually have sex and he took her home safely.

Her semi-clothed body was found in the water at a nature reserve the following morning. She'd been stabbed 18 times in the head, neck, chest, back and stomach.

Selassie's lawyer, Mr. Perry QC, yesterday told the jury: "No-one in this court who's heard the evidence can feel anything but repugnance for the defendant. Likewise, anyone who's read a report in the newspapers or seen the news on TV.

"You are trying a 33-year-old man who seduced a 14-year-old girl and got her pregnant. Yesterday, you heard from his own mouth evidence which portrayed him as selfish and exploitative. His sole interest was to satisfy his gratification for sex. Lustful gratification. Members of the jury, it is not a pretty picture. Decent human beings no doubt cringed at what they heard and read."

However, Mr. Perry urged the jury to put aside their natural feelings of sympathy for Rhiana's family and prejudice against Selassie, and consider their verdict against him based solely on the evidence. This, claimed the defence lawyer, does not add up. He then recapped on Selassie's claims countering what prosecutors say is incriminating evidence against him.

Prosecutor Mr. McColm acknowledged there are no eye witnesses who saw Selassie kill Rhiana, and pointed out that their relationship, meetings and Rhiana's pregnancy were all a secret between the pair.

According to Mr. McColm, Selassie's fear he would be jailed for sexual relations with Rhiana was his motive for killing her and their unborn child. He pointed out that no-one knew of the secret relationship at the time, and the girl's pregnancy was a secret too.

The true picture only emerged after Rhiana's text-message records were inspected by investigators after her death, and an autopsy revealed she was 27 to 30 weeks pregnant.

However, Mr. Perry described this suggestion as "ridiculous," asking the jury why a man would carry out the "dastardly crime" of murder to save himself from prison.

Mr. McColm also asked the jury to consider circumstantial evidence, in the form of alleged sightings of Selassie.

A friend of the defendant gave evidence that he saw him speeding in his car out of Ferry Reach the night Rhiana disappeared and wrote down his registration number in concern. Selassie admitted during his own evidence that he may have been spotted there but claimed he speeds all the time, whether in a hurry or not.

Prosecutors also claim that a man spotted by a different witness having an argument with someone in a St. David's boat yard, and yelling "what are you doing to me Rhi?" was also Selassie. The defendant denied visiting that venue.

Selassie was caught on security cameras dumping a trash bag at Tyne's Bay incinerator the next morning. Prosecutors allege it contained Rhiana's jacket, shoes and cell phone. Selassie claims the bag simply contained old clothes belonging to his young son, not anything incriminating.

The accused did not deny that Rhiana's blood was found in his blue Suzuki Swift car after his arrest. However, he claimed he'd accidentally hit Rhiana's face with the back of his head when they were sitting in his car on that Friday night, causing her to bleed. Mr. McColm branded this as a lie.

The prosecutor also pointed out that Rhiana and Selassie had a history of texting each other with great frequency thousands of times in the year before her death, often from early in the morning until late at night. Mr. McColm described the accused as a "textaholic," and questioned why he did not text Rhiana in the hours after he claims he dropped her safe at home.

Selassie claimed this was because he had no reason to worry about her although he admitted having received a text from a family member that night telling him Rhiana had gone missing. The real reason, claimed the prosecutor yesterday, is that he knew Rhiana was dead.

Selassie sent one text message to Rhiana, just before her body was found the next morning, urging her to come home. Mr. McColm alleged that this was an attempt to cover his tracks, and that for the same reason he also called Rhiana's mother while the hunt was on for the missing girl, claiming he'd not heard from her in a week.

"If you look at this material, look at these circumstances... the conclusion that you come to is a rational conclusion. You can be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that it was Mr. Selassie and no-one else. No-one else caused these 18 stab wounds to Rhiana," stressed the prosecutor.

He pointed to Selassie's lies to Rhiana's mother plus admitted lies to Rhiana when she was alive that having sex with him would help get rid of the baby as indicative of his character.

"Now he says 'believe me, I'm telling the truth.' Well, the defendant doesn't have to prove his innocence, but the prosecution says you should reject what Mr. Selassie has said," Mr. McColm told the jury.

Chief Justice Richard Ground is expected to send the jury out to consider a verdict today.

* Watch our website at www.theroyalgazette.com for breaking news on the verdict today, and read the full story in tomorrow's edition of the paper.