Paintings allegedly stolen from a prominent Montreal artist were to be donated to museums in return for tax benefits, a Superior Court trial was told yesterday.

Irwin Block

Guy Coupal, a former companion of Olympic gold medal biathlete Myriam Bedard, offered this opinion while testifying at the jury trial of Bedard's current companion, Nima Mazhari.

Mazhari, an artist, is accused of theft and possession of stolen goods - which are alleged to be 20 paintings by the late Ghitta Caiserman-Roth, with whom he shared a studio from December 2001 to November 2003. They are valued at a total of $100,000.

Justice Wilbrod Claude Decarie did not strike Coupal's remark from the record, but warned him: "Don't tell stories. Just answer the questions." Coupal, a Montreal police officer, said he found Mazhari "very invasive" when in the winter of 2001 he starting calling Coupal's Nuns' Island condo, which he shared with Bedard.

Mazhari planned to include Bedard in a coffee-table book he was planning on 100 Quebec women, but Coupal was suspicious. "She was getting indoctrinated by him. ... I did not want to hear about him," he testified.

In December 2001, Coupal said Bedard asked him to look for a "covered vehicle" to collect paintings that belonged to Mazhari and "a famous painter." Myriam Bedard previously told the court she never made the request.

Coupal said he did not know how 20 paintings were delivered to his condo. He was told they were "given" to Mazhari and never suspected they were stolen.

He said he went to police, about the time new reports circulated that the works may have been stolen, to distance himself from any criminal act.

Coupal recalled hanging about 10 of the works on the walls, some with Bedard's help, and he noticed price tags of $7,500 and $7,000 on two works. "I would never pay that amount," he remarked.

Showed pictures of works that allegedly were stolen, Coupal said he could not say for sure if they were among the artworks in his house.

The trial is to continue today.

page mise en ligne par SVP

vélo ski de fond plongeon
Consultez notre ENCYCLOPÉDIE sportive