Tim Bosma trial: Dellen Millard's 'snivelling' friend falls apart while testifying

Dellen Millard's childhood friend Matt Hagerman broke down in Superior Court in Hamilton Thursday afterhe describedditching key evidence in the Tim Bosma case inamaintenance stairwell of a strip mall inOakville, Ont.

Hagermanreturned to the witness box today to resume his testimony at the trial of Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., who are accused of murdering Bosma. At times during his testimony, Hagerman cried and his voice shook especially when describing how he repeatedly lied to police.

• Follow along from inside the courtroom at the Tim Bosmatrial
• Mark Smich feared being framed by Dellen Millard, defence suggests
• Millard employee lied to police to protect boss, lawyer alleges

ThoughHagerman appeared distressed, there was no comfort coming from the lawyerrepresenting Smich.

"What are yousnivellingabout?" lawyer ThomasDungeyboomedasHagermansobbed. "You'resnivellingfor yourself, you're notsnivellingfor theBosmafamily. You're notsnivellingfor Mr.Bosmawho is dead, are you?"

You can sit there now Mr.Hagermanand snivel, but it wasn't like you lied once or twice. You lied 40 times to the police on this.- Thomas Dungey, Mark Smich's lawyer

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.

In his aggressive cross-examination, Dungey accused Hagerman of lying dozens of times in his interviews with police and of lying about what he thought was in the toolbox he helped get rid of.

Hagerman said he had "made a mistake."

"Knowing what I know now, I could have changed how things transpired," he said. "I've been thinking about this every day for three years."

Hagerman testified thatearly on May 10, 2013, Millard visited him at his parents' home and gave him a toolbox.

Thenext day hewoke up to texts from Millard's friend Andrew Michalski saying Millard had been arrested.

Michalski wanted to meet and confided they both had had things passed to them by Millard.

The two met up at a park near Hagerman's home and Hagerman then also learned police had raided Millard's house that morning.

Panic sets in

Panic set in, Hagerman testified, saying he just wanted to get rid of the toolbox he had stashed in his parents' home. He told the jury that he had seen the toolbox before at Millard's home, and it usually contained drugs. That's what he thought was in it, Hagerman said, though Dungey didn't buy that argument.

"Sir, that's just nonsense and you know that's nonsense," the lawyersaid.

Hagerman told the court that Michalski said Millard would have wanted the toolbox and backpack to go to Smich.

"I disagreed with going to meet with Mark or anything of the sort ... we ended up coming to an agreement to dump it off somewhere in Oakville."

The two put their respective items in a car owned by Hagerman's parents the toolbox (in which a gunshot residue particle was eventually found, court has heard) and a backpack that Michalski had been given that "smelled strongly of weed," Hagerman said.

The two then set off for Oakville. At this point, Hagerman said, he hadn't linked Millard's arrest to Bosma, and just thought his friend was in custody for stealing a truck.

Once they flipped on the radio in the car, things changed.

"I turned on the news and it came up that there was a man still missing and that Dellen was a prime suspect," Hagerman said. "I panicked and we quickly pulled off the road and dumped what we had in a stairwell somewhere.

"We went behind some sort of strip mall and found a stairwell ... that leads down to an electrical room. We left them at the bottom of the stairs."

'You made a lot of mistakes, didn't you?'

Hagerman said he remembered it being a "Shoppers Medicentre" in Oakville. This wasn't an agreed upon location, he said.

Hagerman testified he didn't talk to Smich, but it was his impression that Michalskidid. He had "no idea" if Michalski was texting Smich, but he was on his phone, he testified.

Dungey repeatedly mentioned that Hagerman lied to police on several occasions. He didn't give truthful statements the first three times he spoke with police, court heard, and didn't come clean until a fourth statement after speaking to his father and a lawyer.

"If you know [Millard] isup on a very serious case and a man's been missing for five days, why didn't you call the police?" Dungey asked. "I made a mistake." Hagerman replied. "You made a lot of mistakes, didn't you?" Dungey shot back.

"You can sit there now Mr. Hagerman and snivel, but it wasn't like you lied once or twice. You lied 40 times to the police on this," Dungey said.

The lawyer also suggestedthat Hagerman knewit wasn't drugs in the toolbox when he dropped it off in the stairwell. "You knew then it was something other than drugs." Dungey said.

"I never thought it was anything other than drugs," Hagerman said.

Friends looking for 'adventure'

Cross-examination by Millard's lawyerNadir Sachak had a decidedly different tone. Sachak said that this group of friends used situations like the theft of a Bobcat (which Hagerman said he was involved in with Millard and Smich among others when he testified Wednesday) as a way to foster camaraderie.

"This was as perverse as it may sound to some law abiding people this was a group activity among your friends. It was an adventure," Sachak said. Hagerman agreed with that statement.

Sachak also attempted to illustrate that Millard wasn't running heists because he needed the money. Millard's financial statehas been repeatedly dissected over the course of the trial.

"At no point ever did Mr. Millard say to you ... 'Matt, I'm poor, I've gotta steal some lawn mowers so I can become rich,'" Sachak said. Hagermanrespondedno.

Sachak also drew attention to a text from Hagerman to Millard in which he says he's "able and willing" to help with a heist.

"There is no duress. There is no control over you, correct?" Sachaksaid, and Hagerman agreed.

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

adam.carter@cbc.ca