Hamilton

Bosma killer's ex-girlfriend discussing plea deal

Christina Noudga's trial on charges of being accessory after the fact in the killing of Tim Bosma is set to start on Tuesday but a plea bargain that avoids a trial may be in the works.

Christina Noudga's trial on charges of being accessory after the fact is set to start Tuesday

Christina Noudga, 24, is charged with accessory after the fact in connection to Bosma’s murder. (Facebook)

The ex-girlfriend of one of Tim Bosma's killers is in talks for a plea deal just days before her trial is set to begin. 

Christina 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.

However, a source close to the case has confirmed to CBC News that Noudga is in talks for a plea deal, on lesser charges of obstructing justice and wilfully destroying evidence.

No deal has been finalized. If one is negotiated before Tuesday, a guilty plea on lesser charges would avoid what had been set as a three-week trial.

Noudga's lawyer Brian Greenspan could not immediately be reached for comment. In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator, he said there are "ongoing discussions with respect to the matter."

Assistant Crown attorney Brett Moodie told CBC News Sunday night that he could not comment at this time.

Key witness

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 of 2013, after he went on a test drive of the truck he was trying to sell with aviation heir Dellen Millard and aspiring rapper Mark Smich.

Both men were found guilty of first-degree murder in June.

The Crown's case against Noudga centres on three main pieces of evidence: an animal incinerator called the Eliminatora toolbox that is believed to have contained the murder weapon, and a digital video recorder that contained critical video evidence.

Police shot this photo of Dellen Millard, 30, after he was arrested on May 11 of 2013. Noudga was his girlfriend at the time. (Hamilton Police Service/Court exhibit)

In the trial of Millard and Smich, court heard that in the days after Bosma's death, Noudga helped move the trailer that contained the dead man's truck, the incinerator in which his body was burned, and was there when the toolbox that is believed to have held the murder weapon was passed off to one of Millard's friends.

The Crown is alleging Noudga acted with knowledge of what Millard, her then-boyfriend, had done. But in the previous trial, she maintained she had no idea of any wrongdoing.

The earlier trial also heard that a digital video recorder that contained footage of Millard and Smich in the MillardAir hangar in Waterloo, Ont., on the night that Bosma's body was burned was also found in Noudga's closet.

She told investigators Millard had handed over the DVR, but she had never checked to see what was on it, even after his arrest.

Noudga also wiped down parts of a trailer that contained Bosma's truck after he was arrested, under the instruction of Millard's mother. Yet at the last trial, Noudga maintained she did not destroy any evidence.

"We didn't remove any evidence. We just removed our touching the trailer," she said. "At the time, we didn't see it as evidence."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Carter

Reporter

Adam Carter is a Newfoundlander who now calls Toronto home. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamCarterCBC or drop him an email at adam.carter@cbc.ca.