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‘Our story does not end here,’ Bosma’s widow says following convictions

‘Our story does not end here,’ Bosma’s widow says following convictions

6Two men charged in the death of Tim Bosma have been found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Dellen Millard, 30, and Mark Smich, 28, were both found guilty in Bosma’s 2013 death.
Family and friends of Bosma let out gasps in the Hamilton courtroom as the verdict against Millard and Smich — who both pleaded not guilty — was read.
Bosma’s widow, Sharlene, hugged family and supporters through tears as cheers erupted from outside the courtroom.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Sharlene Bosma told reporters that she considered herself “blessed” to have spent the time she did with Tim and vowed that the family’s story “does not end here.”
“We have learned to collectively laugh again, to smile and embrace what we still have. We have memories… a lot of very beautiful memories. For myself, I made the choice a long time ago. I choose to remind myself that through everything that’s happened the last three years, I am blessed,” she said.
“What is unfair is that regardless of all that has transpired in the courtroom today, one thing will never change for us. There is one absolute constant for us. This does not bring Tim back and he will still never come home,” she continued.
“For Tim’s murders, their life sentence begins now and ours began over there years ago when they murdered him.”
Jurors in the case returned the verdicts after five days of deliberations.
The judge declared both Millard and Smich will receive the automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole until 2038.
Sharlene also thanked the team of police, detectives, victim services and the “incredible” Crown attorneys for their work on the case.
“Words will never ever fully express just how much they are appreciated for just doing their job, and that’s what they kept telling us, that they’re just ‘doing their job,’” she said.
She added that the jury “worked very hard” and that her and the Bosma family have “prayed for them every day” since the trial began.
“Now the real work begins because our story does not end here,” Sharlene said as friends, family and supporters situated behind her broke out in cheers again.
Crown attorney Tony Leitch had similar sentiments about the jury.
“I just want to profoundly thank the jury,” he said.
“They worked very hard to find justice for Tim Bosma. I think it was justice for our community.”
The Crown alleged that Millard and Smich carried out a plan to steal a truck, kill its owner and burn the body in an animal incinerator.
However, both men maintained that killing Bosma was never part of the plan.
The marathon trial, which was held in Hamilton, lasted more than four months, with testimony from dozens of witnesses.
Bosma, a 32-year-old father, disappeared from his Ancaster home on the night of May 6, 2013 after taking two men to test drive the truck he was selling.
A week later on May 14, police announced that Bosma’s remains were found burned beyond recognition on Millard’s farm.
During the trial, Smich and Millard urged the jury to believe that it was the other who fired the fatal shot.
Millard’s lawyer said Smich was the one who brought a gun to the truck robbery and shot Bosma accidentally in a struggle for the weapon.
Smich, who testified in his own defence, claimed he wasn’t even in the truck when Bosma was shot.
He said he was following behind Bosma and Millard inside Millard’s GMC Yukon when Bosma was killed.
Smich and Millard are also facing murder charges in the death of Toronto woman Laura Babcock, who disappeared in July 2012. Millard and Babcock, according to police, were romantically linked. A judge ruled that the jury could not know this detail.
The jury was also kept in the dark about Millard facing an additional charge.

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