A man who rode his bike home from work in Selkirk more than a decade ago says a man who looks like Mark Stobbe was in a car at about the the time Beverly Rowbotham was killed.

Garry Beaton told the court Friday he saw Stobbe in the family's Crown Victoria outside the service station where Rowbotham's body was later found.

Stobbe is charged with second degree murder in his wife's death, for which he has pleaded not guilty.

The Crown asked Beaton if he would recognize the man he saw sitting in the car more than 11 years ago.

Beaton identified Stobbe in the courtroom, saying, "He's sitting right there in the blue sweater." He said he could identify Stobbe based on his upper body build and nose.

The Crown alleges Stobbe killed his wife in the family's backyard in the RM of St. Andrews, and then drove her body to Selkirk.

Stobbe told the RCMP his wife spent her last afternoon alive shopping at the Selkirk Safeway and was going back to do more shopping the night she died.

He said he fell asleep with his son and woke up at 2:30 a.m. to find her missing.

In Oct. 2000 Beaton said he was working an afternoon shift and would routinely cycle past the service station where Stobbe's wife was found dead.

He could not remember the exact date, but said it was at about 11 p.m. that month he saw a car with headlights on and a large man slumped in the driver's seat about 60 to 80 feet away.

Something he told court he had never seen before.

Beaton cross-examined

In cross examination, Beation clarified, it wasn't Stobbe he saw, exactly, but a man of the same build.

He also said the light inside the car wasn't on at the time.

"So you're not in anyway attempting to tell us this is the person you saw," asked defence lawyer, Tim Killeen.

Beaton responded "No."

He also said he did not see the person's eyes, facial hair or if they had glasses.

Beaton did not take this information to police until 2004, when he realized they were still looking for information.

The trial continues next week on Tuesday.