WOODSTOCK, Ont. - The mother and brother of a little girl abducted and killed last year have returned to their hometown, after spending months hiding from intense public and media attention.

"I'm happy to be home," Tara McDonald said Friday.

She, her fiance and son moved to Brantford last fall to get away from the sometimes harsh spotlight that shone on them after the disappearance of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

"We needed to get away. We had to move for peace. It was nice not to go out and be watched by everyone."

But her son Daryn missed his school, his schoolmates and relatives in Woodstock, McDonald said.

"That's where he wants to be, to be happy now."

McDonald attended a court hearing Friday for Terri-Lynne McClintic, one of the two people accused of abduction and murder.

Tori disappeared April 8, 2008, while walking home from school in Woodstock. Her body was found in July.

McClintic did not appear by video or in person Friday, but her lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy, asked the case be adjourned to April 30.

Co-accused Michael Rafferty, expected to plead not guilty, next appears in court April 23 with a preliminary hearing possible this summer.

The wait for justice has taken its toll on the family, McDonald said Friday.

"It is frustrating. If she (McClintic) has given up her right to a preliminary hearing, let's get the ball rolling. I just wish they would hurry up."

McClintic's decision to forego a preliminary hearing has raised the possibility she will plead to a lesser charge, but LeRoy has insisted there is no deal in the works.

LeRoy did not comment on the case yesterday, except to answer a question about court security.

A handcuffed but not shackled prisoner bolted from his security officers and escaped the courthouse Thursday. He was later caught.

When Rafferty first appeared in court last May, police had to keep enraged members of Tori's family from attacking him.

In the Woodstock courthouse, all that separates the accused from the public and victims' families are a couple metres of space and a wooden railing.

"I am not worried about security," LeRoy said.

McDonald said Friday moving back to Woodstock will make it easier for her to attend each of the court hearings.

She acknowledged in an interview before the move that she had doubts about coming back to the city.

"I'm not as tough as I was, but I'm tough. I can handle it."

Woodstock provided both comfort and pain to her during the ordeal, McDonald said.

"If it wasn't for people's thoughts and prayers and positiveness we wouldn't be able to make it through," she said.

But there were others who blamed her for Tori's disappearance and still refuse to believe in her innocence, McDonald said.

Even the support could be taxing, she added.

"Sometimes you just want people to forget what happened and for life to be the way it was before, for just a minute."