Kelly Ellard's defence team has suggested Warren Glowatski, killed Reena Virk by himself in 1997.

Glowatski, who was 16 at the time, is serving a life sentence for his role in the death of the 14-year-old Victoria teen.

However, under oath on Tuesday he said he didn't actually kill Virk. He says he watched as Ellard drowned the severely injured Virk in the Gorge Waterway.

Reena Virk

Ellard has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and is on trial in Vancouver.

It came as no surprise when defence lawyer Robert Claus zeroed in on the credibility of Glowatski. He walked the young man, who is still in prison, through a litany of lies and untruths. Some were made in police statements, many others under oath at previous trials.

Claus called Glowatski's testimony at his own murder trial "a pack of lies with a smattering of truth."

Kelly Ellard

Glowatski doesn't deny the charges. He says he was messed up at the time and would have said anything to stay out of jail. But the young man says he has turned his angry life around.

He says he is telling the truth about the night Virk was murdered and says he feels an obligation to her family to tell the truth.

He says he watched but didn't participate in the drowning of Virk. He says that murderous act was committed by Kelly Ellard.

The Virk family believes him. Reena's father Manjit Virk says Glowatski is trying to get a heavy load off his heart. " I believe the truth has more power than the lies. Sometimes there is wrestling between the lies and the truth and it goes up and down. But it is my belief that ultimately truth prevails."

Claus simply says Glowatski is carrying on with his lying in order to get himself out of prison. But Glowatski wouldn't be shaken from his story, telling the defence lawyer repeatedly he is wrong and that his guilt lies simply in his inaction at the time of the murder.

The trial continues.