Tim Bosma trial: Christina Noudga now 'loathes' Millard, court hears

Christina Noudga fell out of love with Dellen Millard after he "got her arrested" on an accessory after the fact charge in the Tim Bosma case, court heard Tuesday at the trial of the two men accused of killing the Hamilton man.

Noudga, 24, returned to the witness box today as her cross-examination by defence lawyers began.

Mark Smich's lawyer, Thomas Dungey, suggested Noudga was still in love with Millard. Noudga emphatically shot that idea down.

• Tim Bosma trial: cross-examination of Christina Noudga continues Wednesday

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• Tim BosmaTrial: Read Millard's letters from jail

"I have absolutely no feelings of emotion towards him," Noudga said. "And when did that happen?" Dungey responded. "When he got me arrested," she replied.

Noudga was arrested and charged in the Bosma case in April 2014.

"I got to spend four months of my life in a tiny little box, and over time I started to feel a contempt towards him ... a loathing. He put me in a situation I didn't belong in ... he also cheated on me and I found out after the fact."

Oh, you poor thing you ... we're supposed to feel sorry for you?- Mark Smich's lawyer, Thomas Dungey

Noudga was Millard's girlfriend when he and MarkSmichwere charged with first-degree murder in 2013 inBosma'sdeath. She has been charged with being an accessory after the fact.

Smich, 28, ofOakville, Ont., and Millard, 30, of Toronto, have both pleaded not guilty.

Dungey suggested to Noudga thatit's "to her advantage" to give a certain type of testimonyduring this trial to get Millard "on side," so he doesn't damage her in her trial, which is coming up in November. He also questioned her memory, which he called "very selective."

"If you didn't know anything, that's to your assistance, right?" Dungey saidabout her charge. "Well I didn't know anything, so that is to my assistance. It's also to the truth," Noudga said.

'Oh you poor thing you'

Dungeypressed Noudga harder than either the Crown or Millard's lawyers did, peppering her with questions about why she didn't call police when she surmised that Bosma's truck might be in the trailer she helped Millard move in May 2013.

"Have you ever been inextreme stress, duress? ... Intoxication?" she asked Dungey at one point.

"Oh, you poor thing you ... we're supposed to feel sorry for you?" Dungeyresponded. "This is a first-degree murder ... and you do nothing."

Bosma's family members looked aghast during much of Noudga's cross-examination. Unlike several people connected to Millard or Smich who have testified at the trial, she has not shown remorse for not going to the police and telling them what she knew sooner.

Noudga repeatedly said she was "advised" not to go to police by a lawyer, and cited "solicitor-client privilege" for that decision. She only gave a statement once she was arrested and charged.

Instead of going to police, Noudga and Millard's mother, Madeleine Burns, went to Burns's home, where Noudgawiped down the trailershe helped movewhile Burns showed her where to wipe, court has heard.

"We didn't want anything to do with this case," Noudga said. "We didn't want to be tied into all of it ... and have our lives destroyed by the media, which it has been."

Noudga never told police about Millard's mother being involved with the wiping down of the truck, court heard, until she testified about it in court this week.

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 Ayr, Ont.

'He was suffering'

Earlier in the day, Millard's lawyer Ravin Pillaycross-examined Noudga with a much softer tone, focusingon the emotional side of the letters Millard sent her, rather than the multiple instances in which he askedNoudgato tamper with witnesses as his "secret agent."

"You knew he was suffering ... it was clear to you his experience in jail was weighing heavily on him,"Pillaysaid. "Yes,"Noudgaresponded.

In the letters, Millard repeatedly asked Noudga to be his "super spy" and contact key Crown witnesses something she testified she never agreed to.In other letters, Millard talked about how he is well liked by some of the guards in jail.

"I just filled him with more love and support, I just avoided those questions in general," Noudga said.

Millard's legal team also provided a theory to account for Noudga's less than stellar memory. In her last three days of testimony, Noudga has repeatedly said she couldn't recall what Millard had said or done during key moments in the case.

Pillay asserted Noudga was often mentally and physically exhausted because of work and school, and so much of that time was a blur because she was so busy.

"It's more difficult [to recall details] than people assume it to be," she said.

Noudga's cross-examination continues on Wednesday.

CBC reporterAdam Carteris in the courtroom each day reporting live on the trial. You can read a recap of hisbloghere.

On mobile and can't see the live blog? View it here.

adam.carter@cbc.ca