Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard asked friend if he should steal truck from 'nice guy'
WARNING: This story contains language that may offend some readers
Just days before Tim Bosma disappeared, Dellen Millard asked one of his friends if he should steal a truck from "the asshole or the nice guy," court heard Tuesday at the trial of two men accused of killing the Hamilton man.
"I told him to f--k off," said Millard's friend and former roommate Andrew Michalski, who began testifying Tuesday afternoon. "I didn't think he needed to steal a truck."
- Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard's roommate returns Wednesday to testify
- Dellen Millard's 'snivelling' friend falls apart while testifying
- Mark Smich feared being framed by Dellen Millard, defence suggests
Bosma, who lived in the suburban Ancaster area of Hamilton, vanished on May 6, 2013, after taking two men on a test drive in a pickup truck he was trying to sell. Investigators later found charred human remains, believed to belong to Bosma, in a livestock incinerator on Millard's farm in Waterloo, Ont.
Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., are charged with first-degree murder in Bosma's death. Both have pleaded not guilty.
As testimony resumed Tuesday afternoon after almost two days of legal arguments, the jury saw text messages between Millard and Michalski from the morning of May 7, 2013, in which he told Millard that Smich's girlfriend, Marlena Meneses, had called him around 6 a.m. because she was worried and looking for Smich.
Bosma was last seen the previous night.
"He's with her," Millard responded about Smich. "Marlena's a child and worries too easily."
Michalski then texted back, saying, "I told her that you guys were fine and that it's not the first time this has happened and won't be the last."
The witness said he saw Millard at his residence in Toronto later that day.
"I asked him if they got the truck, and he said yes," Michalski told the court.
Pair test drove truck similar to Bosma's
Michalski testified that he knew Millard and Smich had taken a test drive of a pickup truck on May 5, 2013, the day before Bosma disappeared. The Crown alleged earlier in the trial that Millard and Smich went on a test drive with ex-Israeli soldier Igor Tumanenko in a truck similar to Bosma's.
An agreed statement between the Crown and Smich's defence team acknowledges their client was on the test drive with Tumanenko, but no such statement was made for Millard.
Michalski testified that he saw Millard and Smich at Millard's Maplegate residence in Toronto after that test drive, too. Smich said he felt sick, Michalski said. "That was their excuse for not stealing the truck," he testified.
Tumanenko testified at the trial in February that there was a "change of the dynamic" inside the truck after he mentioned his time in the Israeli army.
Assistant Crown attorney Craig Fraser asked Michalski if he said anything to Millard or Smich when they were talking about stealing a truck. "No," Michalski said. "I think I was more minding my own business than anything."
Smich 'was quite panicked'
Michalski also described the call he got from Smich after Millard was arrested on May 10, and his instructions to remove drugs from Millard's home.
"He said that they got Dell, and that I should get all of the drugs out of his house," he said. "He was quite panicked."
Michalski said he put drugs from Millard's home inside a blue Under Armour backpack and put it in the trunk of his car. Smich contacted him again, Michalski testified, and said he wanted him to meet up with Millard's friend Matt Hagerman, who Millard had given a toolbox to before he was arrested.
"He wanted whatever I had and Hagerman had brought to him the next day," Michalski said. Court has heard a gunshot residue particle was found inside the toolbox, but no gun was ever recovered.
The two met and put the bag with the drugs and the toolbox in the back of Hagerman's trunk, Michalski said. They then drove to Oakville, Ont., and stashed them both in a maintenance stairwell.
"Why did you put it in the stairwell?" Fraser asked. "I didn't want to directly meet with Mark and hand it to him," Michalski responded.
Michalski testified that after leaving the items in the stairwell, he directed Smich to where the backpack and the toolbox was by phone.
CBC reporter Adam Carter is in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. You can view a recap of his live blog here: