WINNIPEG - Eight witnesses took the stand Tuesday in Mark Stobbe's second degree murder trial, including former high-ranking government official Bob Dewar.
In 2000, Dewar was former Premier Gary Doer's chief of staff and worked with Stobbe after the NDP was elected.
Dewar testified Stobbe hosted a bbq at his home in September 2000 but he didn't see a hatchet.
The crown believes Stobbe killed his wife Beverly Rowbotham a month later by hitting her with a hatchet in the back yard, drove her body to Selkirk in her car, parked in a secluded area and biked home.
Stobbe's friend Martin D'Entremont testified that the next day Stobbe called him.
"He told me Bev was dead. He said something about they found her in a garage, I just thought that meant she committed suicide, he said no, she was murdered or killed."
When asked how he sounded on the phone, D'Entremont said he sounded "flat".
Before moving from Regina, a neighbour testified the family seemed very happy and played with the children in the front yard.
But after the couple moved to Manitoba, a neighbour testified she never saw the family playing and the couple looked very occupied and never made eye contact with neighbours.
The night Beverly was killed, neighbours said they didn't hear any noises coming from the home.
Testimony started late after one of the 14 jurors failed to show up for court.
He sent the judge a note saying it was too hard to attend the 2 month long trial.
An attempt to find the juror was made but in the end the judge dismissed him and said there would be "consequences."
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