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TORONTO — The lawyer for one of two men accused of killing a young Toronto woman who disappeared more than five years ago says his client had no reason to commit such a crime.
In his closing arguments, Thomas Dungey says his client Mark Smich wasn’t part of the alleged love triangle that the Crown says was the motive behind Laura Babcock’s murder.
Smich, 30, of Oakville, Ont., and his co-accused, Dellen Millard, 32 of Toronto, have pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of Babcock, whose body has not been found.
The Crown alleges Millard and Smich killed Babcock on July 3 or 4, 2012, because she was the odd woman out in a love triangle with Millard and his girlfriend, Christina Noudga.
Prosecutors contend the two accused burned the 23-year-old woman’s remains in a large animal incinerator that was found on Millard’s farm near Waterloo, Ont.
Dungey says there is not one iota of evidence that Smich killed Babcock.
“Who’s involved in this love triangle? Allegedly Christina Noudga, Dellen Millard and Laura Babcock,” Dungey said. “Not Mark Smich. He’s not even part of the triangle, not part of the whole motive.”
Dungey said the Crown’s case is based on circumstantial evidence with no concrete proof about Babcock’s presumed death.
“There is no evidence to where she is or what happened to her,” Dungey said.
Millard, who is representing himself, told the jury in his closing address Tuesday that several witnesses have seen or heard from Babcock after July 4, 2012, suggesting she was still alive.
