On his fourth day cross-examining Mark Smich, Dellen Millard’s lawyer got to the heart of his argument that Smich was lying about having nothing to do with Tim Bosma’s death.

Smich and Millard are charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The Crown alleges that Bosma was shot in his truck, after leaving his house with Smich and Millard, who had asked to test drive a truck he was selling, then burning his remains in an animal incinerator at the Region of Waterloo International Airport – where Millard operated a hangar – and moving the incinerator to Millard’s farm property in North Dumfries.

Millard has chosen not to testify in his own defence.

Smich has testified, telling jurors that he was following Millard and Bosma in a second vehicle.

After Bosma’s truck pulled over in an industrial area on the outskirts of Brantford, Smich said, he followed suit – then saw Millard get out of the truck and put a gun in his satchel.

During Thursday’s cross-examination, lawyer Nadir Sachak claimed that Smich “made up” that testimony to fit into the events jurors had already heard about from expert witnesses.

“I’m going to say you lied about not being in Bosma’s truck,” he said.

“Absolutely not,” Smich responded

Much of Thursday morning’s testimony focused on the specifics of where Bosma’s truck was seen after leaving his house.

Jurors had previously seen security video featuring a similar-looking truck driving by a hydrovac excavation business located between Hamilton and Brantford, followed by a vehicle that appeared similar to the one Smich claimed to have been driving.

Questioned by Sachak, Smich said that neither vehicle turned around until they were closer to Brantford.

Sachak then introduced a second video from the hydrovac company, from 15 minutes before the one played previously.

In that video, a truck similar to Bosma’s is again seen driving by – but in the opposite direction as it was in the first video.

“You shot Bosma in that 10-minute test drive, and had to go back to get Millard’s Yukon,” Sachak said.

“Absolutely not true, sir,” Smich responded.

Smich said he had no explanation for why a vehicle looking similar to Bosma’s would have driven by the camera 15 minutes earlier.

Sachak then accused Smich of being in the pickup truck and pulling out a gun that he had hidden in his hoodie.

At that point, Sachak said, Bosma grabbed the gun and it fired.

Smich denied that version of events, just as he denied Sachak’s subsequent claim that there was “tension” between Millard and himself.

Sachak claimed that Millard “panicked,” thinking he would be blamed for the shooting because it was his idea to look for the truck – something Smich again denied.

“A lot of people suffered because of Dell’s actions. I don’t want to be involved with a lunatic like him again,” Smich said.

After a lunch break, Sachak grilled Smich about Bosma’s phone, which was later discovered by police in the Oak Park Road area between Brantford and Paris.

Smich claimed that he saw Millard searching Bosma for a phone, finding one, and wiping it down.

Asked why, if he was concerned about what he had just seen, he didn’t call 911 or alert anyone else when following Millard to his farm in a separate vehicle, Smich claimed that he felt “scared and threatened” and said the battery on his phone had died.

“Did it not occur to you ‘He might just finish me off too’?” Sachak asked.

“I did feel that way when we were on the side of the dark road,” Smich responded.