Laura Babcock murder trial: Photo of burning bones challenged by defence

It's a photo that has been on screens and dissected for hours in the courtroom atthe Laura Babcockmurder trial in Toronto.

The photo shows an animal incinerator, owned by accused killerDellen Millard, with flames erupting from its inner chamber.

Expert forensics witness Dr. Tracy Rogers testified in court last week that the objects seen burning in that photolooklike human bones.

• ReadCBCNews'sfull coverageof the LauraBabcockmurder trial

Yet the defence for the two men accused of killing and incinerating the 23-year-old Toronto womanspent a good part of Tuesday trying to cast doubt on that expertopinion.

CBCNews has chosen not to publish the photo, which was found on electronic devices that were seized from Millard's home.

Millard, 32, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 30, of Oakville, Ont., have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

They are being tried in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto in front of a jury. Millard is representing himself at the trial.

Both Millardand lawyers representing Smich pointed out to the jury that the photos that Rogers was working with for the investigation were grainy, pixelated, and less than ideal for a conclusive forensics examination.

No physical remains were recovered in connection with the case, leaving Rogers with just a photo to examine.

"Essentially you're telling us that you can't for certain identify what species these bones came from," Millard said, during his cross-examination. "Correct," Rogers responded.

"You can tell us that this doesn't appear to be fish bones?" Millard asked, at another juncture."I can tell you that, yes," Rogers said.

Rogers started her testimony Friday afternoon, saying she had examined two photos that were taken back in July 2012.

"I was able to state that the objects in the incinerator appear similar to human bone," Rogers told the jury.

The Crown alleges an animal incinerator called The Eliminator was used to burn Babcock's body after she was killed in July 2012.

Later in the day, court heard fromWilliamPenner, who handles equipment sales forTriStar dairy, hog and poultry. That's the Canadian distributor for the company that sells The Eliminator. Penner testified thatmost of the company'scustomers usethe incinerators for pet cremations, and also sometimes on hog farms.

Pennertold the jury that he usually sells about three or four incinerators a yearacross Canada. He testified that Millard purchased a 500-pound incineratormodel in 2012 for$15,424.

The Crown asked him how long it would take to burn 150 pounds of carcass inside The Eliminator.

"Roughly an hour," came his reply.

"Everything about this machine was done according to the standards and the rules that have to do with these machines, right?" Millard asked in his cross-examination. "That's right," Penner said.

A Toronto police officer also testified today about several large metal drums that were welded togetherthat were seized from Millard's farm.

Court has previously seen evidence in text messagesthat Millard's mechanic, Shane Schlatman, had a built a homemade incinerator.

Read a recap of today'slive blog for more in-depth coverage.On mobile?View the bloghere.

adam.carter@cbc.ca