Jun 09, 2009 - 02:57 PM

By Jeff Mitchell

WHITBY -- A stranded trucker caught a ride with a fellow driver to the truck stop murder victim Donald Woods visited before he disappeared, a jury has heard.

And even though the man said his truck had broken down and was being fixed, he showed no interest in checking out those repairs, former trucker Donald Carpentier testified Tuesday in Whitby.

"He did not check the truck," Mr. Carpentier said. "I found it funny."

The Crown contends the man Mr. Carpentier met in Toronto and travelled with to Belleville on June 22, 2006, was Paul Cyr.

Mr. Cyr, of Montreal, is accused of first-degree murder in the killing of Mr. Woods, a Brockville-area trucker who was found dead in his truck in Pickering on June 23, 2006. Mr. Woods last had contact with his wife on June 21 as he pulled into the Ten Acre Truck stop off Hwy. 401 in Belleville, jurors have heard.

It is the Crown's theory that Mr. Cyr killed Mr. Woods with a shotgun blast to the back of the head and then stole the victim's cargo, a load of air-chilled chicken. The Crown has presented evidence that food processors in the Toronto area bought chicken from a man they knew as Paul in the days following Mr. Woods's murder.

Mr. Carpentier testified Tuesday he met up with the stranded trucker at one Toronto food company and that the man rode with him to another business before they left the city. Workers at both food warehouses knew the man, Mr. Carpentier testified.

Mr. Carpentier said the man he picked up told him his truck had broken down and was being repaired. But when they pulled into the Ten Acre truck stop June 22, the man tossed some belongings in the cab and went immediately to eat, the witness said.

"He didn't check the truck -- (to see) if the repair was made -- and I found that funny," Mr. Carpentier said.

Mr. Carpentier said that later in the evening, he heard the trucker talking to a woman and telling her he couldn't help her. Earlier in the trial, Mr. Woods's wife, Nicole, testified she went to the Belleville truck stop in search of her husband after he went missing. She said she approached a man driving a truck bearing the logo for JC Drivers, the company Mr. Cyr drove for.

Mr. Woods was considering joining JC Drivers and was arranging to meet with someone from the company just before he died, jurors have heard.

The trial continues.