Const. Nicole Bach was set to take the stand for a second day in the criminal trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, but the defence has questions for Ottawa police about why her text messages from that period were deleted.

Her testimony has been put off until the lawyers get those answers.

She told the court Thursday that she received an email that she was due to upgrade the software on her phone after the protest in early 2022 and didn't know it would delete all her messages.

She had direct contact with Barber throughout the protest.

The Crown said the defence learned about the potential lost evidence as a result of phone upgrade about a year ago, but the defence said it thought that was only in relation to one officer, Const. Isabelle Cyr.

Cyr, who testified earlier this week, also potentially lost messages due to the software upgrade on her phone.

The defence asked police to disclose the communication instructing Bach and other police officers about the upgrade, but were given a completely redacted five-page document.