Accused killer admitted to burning a body, friend tells Laura Babcock murder trial

A friend of one of the two men accused of killing Laura Babcock has testified that he heard one of them admit to burning a woman's body and disposing of her cellphone in a lake.

The jury heard from Desi Liberatore, 21, on Wednesday at the first-degree murder trial of Dellen Millard, 32, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 30, of Oakville, Ont. Liberatore, who grew up in Oakville, was friends with Smich.

Liberatore first provided information to police linking Smich to the Babcock case in September 2013, while he was in custody for another matter.

• Read CBC News's full coverage of the Laura Babcock murder trial

Babcock was 23 when she disappeared from Toronto in 2012. Her body was never found.

On Day 3 of the trial in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto, Liberatore said he had been charged with petty crimes as a youth, used drugs, and has struggled with opioid addiction — a past the defence attempted to use against him during a long and rigorous cross-examination.

Liberatore testified that in 2012, while attending high school, he was in Smich's garage with a group of people, including Smich, smoking marijuana.

Liberatore said that Smich showed the group a rap song he composed on an iPad.

The trial earlier heard the iPad belonged to Laura Babcock but was re-named "Mark's iPad."

Liberatore told court the song's lyrics were about "torching" a woman's body and a cellphone being under water.

After seeing Smich's performance of the song, Liberatore said the group asked him about it.

"The rap was kind of shocking and we were like what's going on?" he testified.

Smich then asked a woman who was there to leave the garage, Liberatore said.

He said Smich "told us in greater detail about what happened."

"He said they torched a body and threw it in the lake, and something about a cellphone being in the lake," Liberatore said.

He said Smich did not clarify who he was referring to when he said "they torched a body."

Crown attorney Jill Cameron then played a video, which the court viewed on Day 1 of the trial, showing Smich performing a rap song. The lyrics include the following:

"The bitch started off all skin and bone, now the bitch lay on some ashy stone, last time I saw her's outside the home and if you go swimming you can find her phone."

Liberatore said the song Smich performed was "something like that."

'Memory fog' and drug use

While Millard's cross-examination of Liberatore was brief, Smich's lawyer spent about an hour relentlessly trying to diminish the witness's credibility.

Thomas Dungey grilled Liberatore about the reliability of his memory, his admitted drug use, the veracity of rap lyrics, and the manner in which he first told police about what he witnessed in Smich's garage.

Asked by Dungey about his memory of the day in the garage, Liberatore said he was "not very inebriated" and had a solid recollection. 

But Dungey pointed out that Liberatore had admitted the group was smoking a marijuana "blunt" in the garage and referred to his initial statement to police.

In 2013, Liberatore told police he often had "memory fog" because he would smoke himself "into oblivion."

Dungey asked if the statement to police was true and Liberatore said it was.

Rap lyrics true?

Dungey then asked about the rap song Liberatore said he witnessed Smich perform in the garage.

Liberatore agreed with the lawyer that Smich was a rap music "enthusiast" who would frequently use rap slang.

Dungey then suggested that many popular rap songs reference violent acts, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're true.

The witness agreed.

"I guess it's entertainment," Liberatore said.

Deal with police

Liberatore outlined what he saw and heard in Smich's garage in a statement given to police on Sept. 4, 2013.

But it wasn't under normal circumstances.

Liberatore told the court he was addicted to opioids at the time and going through drug withdrawal.

He was in police custody for another matter when he offered them information about Smich.

Liberatore admitted this during Crown questioning but Dungey pressed him on it, attempting to portray the witness as a desperate addict who would say anything to police.

"You're trying to make this deal to get out and get drugs?" Dungey asked Liberatore.

"Yes," he responded, although he said giving the statement to police did not in any way affect the other matter he was in custody for.

The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.

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