[MSN] Canada. Bédard's boyfriend led whisper campaign against her dad, court told

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Bédard's boyfriend led whisper campaign against her dad, court told
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 | 2:33 PM ET 

The father of former Olympic biathlete Myriam Bédard has admitted in court that he anonymously alerted the daughter of a Quebec artist after he started to suspect his son-in-law stole her paintings.

In Montreal on Tuesday, Pierre Bédard testified that three years ago, he sent photos and an anonymous letter to Kathe Roth, daughter of the late artist Ghitta Caiserman-Roth, warning her about her mother's paintings, which he believes his son-in-law Nima Mazhari had stolen.

Bédard continued his testimony Wednesday.

Mazhari, who is Olympic gold medallist Bédard's domestic partner, is on trial on several charges of art theft and possession of stolen goods worth about $100,000.

He's accused of stealing 20 of Caiserman-Roth's paintings while they shared studio space on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal in 2001.

The Crown alleges Mazhari stole the paintings after his relations with Caiserman-Roth soured that year and she ended their lease.
The paintings were found in various homes connected to the Bédard family – some were at Myriam Bédard's former home on Île des Soeurs, where she lived with her now ex-husband Jean Paquet.

Other paintings made their way to Pierre Bédard's house in Quebec City. That's when Bédard started to doubt the art's origin, he testified.
Café project abandoned, court told

The jury has already heard testimony from Pierre Bédard's ex-partner, Huguette Nicole, who described how she helped Myriam load some of the paintings in a van in 2002.

Nicole testified that at the time, she was growing increasingly suspicious of Mazhari as she got to know him better, and believed the sculptor and painter was conspiring to turn Myriam against her family. 

"I had much doubt about him," she told the court on Tuesday.

Around the same time, Nicole and Pierre Bédard were helping Mazhari and Myriam Bédard open a café in Quebec City area.

Nicole said she didn't like the way Myriam and her sisters were discussing their father, "under the influence of Mr. Mazhari," she said.

Pierre Bédard testified that his involvement in the café project eventually waned because of tension that was surfacing between himself, his daughter and Mazhari.

"At a certain point, I heard they were talking behind my back," he said. "I didn't need that."

Myriam Bédard has been attending Mazhari's trial, where she has sat in the front row taking copious notes.

Mazhari's trial continues to the end of the week.

http://www.cbc.ca