A defence witness who once shared a home with Robert Pickton said she was surprised to learn he ever associated with prostitutes and drug addicts.

Robert Pickton is on trial for the deaths of six women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
(Jane Wolsak/Canadian Press)

Tanya Carr, 35, told the jury in Pickton's murder trial Thursday about the number of times that she and the Port Coquitlam, B.C. pig farmer ate meals together in his trailer.

Under cross examination before the B.C Supreme Court in New Westminster, she talked about having an "uncle-niece type" relationship with Pickton, and said she had never seen women on the farm.

However, Carr later lost her cool when Crown attorney Mike Petrie suggested she didn't spend as much time having meals with Pickton in his trailer as she claimed.

Carr told the court she was getting fed up and wanted to be "left alone."

Pickton is on trial in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, facing six counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Marnie Frey.

He awaits trial on 20 more counts of murder. All of the charges stem from the disappearances and deaths of women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In another development, the sister of one of the dead women made her first appearance at the trial.

Lisa Bigjohn said she and her sister Mona Wilson were in the process of reconnecting just before her sister disappeared in December of 2001. Her remains were later found on the Pickton farm.

"My sister, unfortunately I lost her to the dark side of the world,'' Bigjohn said. "She was only a human being too, who wanted to get help on her last days when she reached out to me for help.''

Bigjohn said she has been too afraid to watch the proceedings until now. But she decided she wanted to be there to support her sister.

with files from Canadian Press