Robert William Pickton's defence lawyer questioned his client's mental competence Wednesday while directing a key interrogator to bizarre statements Pickton made during a marathon interview with police.

Staff Sgt. Bill Fordy, who conducted much of the 11-hour interview with Pickton, on Wednesday took the stand for the first time in the murder trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

Pickton, 57, a pig farmer in suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged in the alleged murders of six women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He will face another 20 murder charges in a second trial at a later date. He has pleaded not guilty to all 26 counts of first-degree murder.

During his cross-examination Wednesday, Pickton's lawyer Peter Ritchie spent some time with Fordy reviewing the way Pickton spoke during the interview that followed his arrest in February 2002.

Ritchie read Fordy an example of Pickton's bizarre statements: "You die tomorrow, another person's borns."

"That is an odd statement, yes," Fordy said.

"Well I'm going to suggest to you, sir, that there are many such examples … that he is speaking quite oddly," Ritchie said.

Ritchie brought up that Pickton failed Grade 2 and was put into a special class in school. He asked Fordy whether that didn't raise questions about the farmer's mental competence.

Fordy said it did not.

One point, Pickton uses the phrase, "I'm mind-baffling," which Fordy agreed was odd.

Pickton also told stories of a prized horse named Goldie, who was put down, which Fordy said he found significant, but not unusual.

"Weren't you told by people, your interviewers, that people were saying he [Pickton] was slow?" Ritchie asked.

"Yes, I do have a recollection of being told that."

"Weren't you told by your interviewers that his brother and sister took care of him?"

"I was told his brother looked after him," Fordy answered.

Ritchie went back in the transcript to a point where Pickton talked about being three years old in 1968 when his family moved their house. But in 1968, Pickton was 19 years old.

"Is this odd?" Ritchie asked.

"I see nothing in this passage that makes me think he doesn't understand me," Fordy said. 

'People are more likely to speak to you if they like you'

Earlier Wednesday, Fordy acknowledged that he lied or made misstatements during the marathon police interview of Pickton.

Fordy said the interrogation was longer than most, but added it was not that unusual and that Pickton understood everything they talked about, and that part of the strategy was to build a rapport with the accused.

"People are more likely to speak to you if they like you," Fordy said.

Also on Wednesday, Fordy, a trained interviewer, outlined some of the techniques he used to gain Pickton's confidence and trust.

He said he lied or made misstatements, some by design and some just through honest mistakes, to Pickton. Canadian law allows police to lie to a suspect to elicit information.

Officer says his interviews depend on responses

Fordy also told jurors he has conducted hundreds of interrogations, and although he prepares carefully, he said, there is no perfect interview. He noted that his interrogations deviate depending on a suspect's responses.

Last week, the first week of the trial that's expected to last a year, the jury saw the entire 11-hour RCMP interview.

Fordy is the second Crown witness, following the testimony of Insp. Don Adam, the RCMP officer in charge of the task force probing Vancouver's missing women.

On Tuesday, Pickton's lawyer, Peter Ritchie questioned Adam about the lengthy interview, saying his client was getting tired and fell asleep at least twice.

But Adam responded that Pickton did not fall asleep. However, he did admit to counting 14 yawns by the suspect, adding that he thought Pickton was more bored than tired.