Marianne White

The jury started its deliberations Tuesday in the trial of Myriam Bedard, the double-gold Olympic medallist, who is accused of violating a custody agreement with her former husband.

Both the defence lawyer and the Crown prosecutor outlined their closing arguments to the six-man, six-woman jury Tuesday morning.

Bedard’s lawyer, John T. Pepper Jr., argued that she never intended to deprive her ex-husband, Jean Paquet, of seeing his daughter when they went to the U.S. last fall. Furthermore, he said that Bedard could not strip Paquet from his rights to see his daughter since he usually didn’t see much of her anyhow.

“It doesn’t make any sense. He only sees his daughter when it’s convenient for him and when he is available, which is not very often,” said Pepper.

“The problem is not Ms. Bedard, it’s him,” he added.

In his testimony, Paquet stated that Bedard is trying to take his daughter away from him and that he only gets to see her when the mother says so.

“Ms. Bedard doesn’t encourage her daughter to see her father. Her actions speak for themselves,” said Crown prosecutor Josee Lemieux.

She argued that Bedard intentionally did not inform Paquet she was leaving for the U.S. with her daughter and common-law spouse Nima Mazhari.

Lemieux said that Paquet would not have agreed to the trip.

Bedard said they went to the U.S. to protest “bureaucratic terrorism” by Canadian authorities. Bedard testified during the Gomery commission into the sponsorship scandal and she said that the government was hassling her and Mazhari because of that.

Lemieux reminded the jury that Paquet sent an email to Bedard begging her to come back to Quebec or at least “to not bring her (the daughter) down your murky path.”

She also outlined that Paquet told his former wife very clearly twice in November — more than a month into their U.S. trip — that he would involve the police unless she came back to Canada.

“Obviously, Ms. Bedard didn’t care. In fact, Mr. Paquet is the least of her worries,” pleaded Lemieux.

Paquet officially lodged a complaint with Quebec City police at the end of November when he thought he would never see his daughter again.

The 37 year-old former biathlon athlete was arrested in the U.S. after an international warrant was issued last December. She was later charged with breaching a custody order by taking her daughter, who was then 11, to the U.S.

The defence lawyer said that Bedard often traveled with her daughter and that it never bothered Paquet before.

“She had no reasons to believe that there could be a problem this time,” pleaded Pepper.

The Crown said that Bedard contradicted herself many times and that it tainted her credibility.

“You should not believe her testimony, but rather Paquet’s,” argued Lemieux.

The judge in the case, Justice Jean-Claude Beaulieu, delivered his instructions to the jurors who started their deliberations Tuesday afternoon. They have decided to deliberate from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a lunch break.

page mise en ligne par SVP

vélo ski de fond plongeon
Consultez notre ENCYCLOPÉDIE sportive