Tim Bosma's family supports prospective Christina Noudga plea deal
Dellen Millard's ex-girlfriend in plea deal talks the day before her trial is to start
Faced with the prospect of sitting through weeks of graphic testimony for the second time about how Tim Bosma died, the Hamilton man's family says it welcomes the idea of Christina Noudga taking a plea deal on lesser charges.
"Everybody feels pretty good about it," Bosma's father, Hank, told CBC News.
"Three weeks of trial — we don't want to go through all that again."
He said the Crown had spoken with the family about the possibility of a plea deal.
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Noudga, 24, is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Hamilton on Tuesday on charges of being an accessory after the fact to Bosma's 2013 murder. The Crown alleges that Noudga, who is Dellen Millard's ex-girlfriend, wilfully helped the convicted murderer cover his tracks after Bosma's death. She has previously pleaded not guilty.
A source close to the case has confirmed to CBC News that the Toronto woman is in talks for a plea deal, on lesser charges of obstructing justice and wilfully destroying evidence.
If a deal is negotiated before Tuesday, a guilty plea on lesser charges would avoid what had been set as a three-week trial before a judge alone. Talks continued on Monday, but there is no guarantee of a deal until it happens in the courtroom.
Bosma's father said it would be validating to see her stand up and say she is guilty in court, were that to happen. One of the worries for Tim Bosma's parents is the prospect of running into Noudga in the courthouse.
Unlike Millard and Mark Smich, who were in custody during their murder trial, Noudga is out on bail and would be able to come and go from the courthouse, should the trial proceed.
Noudga's lawyer Brian Greenspan did not respond to requests for comment.
Noudga was one of the most polarizing figures at the months-long Bosma trial earlier this year, where she spent days in the witness box, testifying about her involvement in a case that garnered widespread attention for the senseless murder of the 32-year-old husband and father from Hamilton.
Bosma vanished in May 2013, after he went on a test drive with Millard and Smich in the truck he was trying to sell.
Both men were found guilty of first-degree murder in June.
During the last trial, the jury heard that Noudga helped move the trailer that held Bosma's truck, as well as the incinerator in which his body was burned, and the toolbox that is believed to have carried the murder weapon.
Police also found a digital video recorder inside her bedroom, which contained footage of Millard and Smich inside the MillardAir hangar on the night that Bosma died.
While in the witness box at the last trial, Noudga insisted she had no idea that any of her actions were connected with any wrongdoing.
Her testimony from the last trial cannot be used against her in another trial, because of the Canada Evidence Act.
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