Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard 'gave me the creeps,' co-accused's ex says

Dellen Millard often creeped out his co-accused's ex-girlfriend, court heard Tuesday at the trial of two men accused of killing Hamilton man Tim Bosma.

After Mark Smich's ex-girlfriend Marlena Meneses spent most of Monday testifying about how Smich had hit her and attempted to push her into becoming a stripper, she turned her attention to Millard on her return to the witness box Tuesday.

"You weren't comfortable with Dellen Millard, were you?" Smich's lawyer, Thomas Dungey, asked during his cross-examination.

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"He just gave me the creeps, he would stare at me up and down, make sexual comments to me, he would hit on me and if Mark and I would fight, he'd be like ... make a little hint, like, you're fighting with him, but me and you aren't fighting right now," Meneses said.

Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., and Millard, 30, of Toronto, are charged with first-degree murder in Bosma's death. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Bosma, 32, 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.

Smich's legal team spent much of the morning trying to present their client in a more positive light, after he was described as abusive in yesterday's testimony.

Meneses told the jury she met Smich at a Tim Hortons in 2012, and had just gotten out of a relationship with a drug addict who had gotten her into cocaine.

Smich, Dungey said, told her he would only become involved with her if she got off cocaine.

"He assisted you to get off cocaine because he knew it was harmful to you, right?" Dungey said. "Yes," Meneses agreed.

Abuse downplayed

Dungey also tried to downplay the fact that Smich abused Meneses.

"We heard Mark would hit you ... and you testified you told him not to, and he stopped?" Dungey said.

"He only stopped because I told him to," Meneses said.

Menesestestified thatSmich only went along with Millard's criminal plots for the money.

"That's why he was doing them, because he was getting paid. That was the only reason," Meneses said.

She said the expectation was that Millard would pay Smichafter Bosma's truck was stolen, but that never happened."At that time you thought Dell would be generous and give Mark some money ... but he didn't, did he?" Dungeyasked. "No," Meneses said.

'He was protecting you'

Smich didn't tell her everything about the "missions" he went on with Millard, Meneses said."That was typical of Mark, not telling you about these missions. He was protecting you," Dungeysaid, and Meneses agreed.

"I think he didn't want to tell me anything about [the Bosma case] because he was involved," she added.

Meneses testified earlier that Smich told her Millard shot and killed Bosma and today testified that he also told her Millard alone incinerated Bosma's body.

The jury has heard that just after Smich learned Millard had been arrested, he called Andrew Michalski in an effort to round up the marijuana that was in Millard's house and have it brought to him.

MenesesagreedTuesday that it was her idea to have the drugs which was more than a pound of weed, court heard brought to them. She said she wanted to smoke it.

CBC reporter Adam Carteris in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. You can view a recap of his livebloghere:

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adam.carter@cbc.ca