More than two months after Ms. Bédard left the country last October with her daughter and common-law spouse, Nima Mazhari - recently convicted of art theft in an unrelated case - Mr. Paquet filed a complaint with Quebec City police that eventually led to her arrest in the United States and extradition to Canada.
"I warned her that the police would be looking for her. ... I told her it wasn't a bluff," Mr. Paquet testified before the jury in Quebec Superior Court yesterday. "I had no hope of ever seeing my daughter again."
Mr. Paquet said he expressed his concerns to his ex-wife during a telephone conversation in early October, after he learned in the news media that Ms. Bédard was in Washington to campaign against what she and Mr. Mazhari termed "bureaucratic terrorism" in Canada.
The couple had written a letter addressed to the U.S. ambassador to Canada, the secretary-general of the United Nations, the president of the International Olympic Committee, the Prince of Monaco and to "all the habitants of earth" claiming that "bureaucratic terrorism had profound roots in Quebec and Canada, in the administration, the media, the justice and police system."
"I was flabbergasted," Mr. Paquet said when he learned of his ex-wife's motive for leaving the country. He added that he tried to call her several times - to no avail - to ask when she would be returning home from Washington with their daughter.
The prosecution attempted to show that members of the Bédard family were also concerned about the welfare of the then-11-year-old girl, whose name cannot be revealed by court order. Ms. Bédard's older sister Chantal testified yesterday that she found the whole situation "bizarre" and contacted authorities about how to get her niece home and back to school.
In his cross-examination, Ms. Bédard's lawyer, John Pepper Jr., attempted to show that the girl was being well taken care of in Washington, was regularly tutored by her mother and was in contact with her father in Quebec City. He also made several references to the fact that Ms. Bédard had every intention of returning to her home near Montreal after completing her work in Washington.
At the end of his testimony, Mr. Paquet, who is a trainer with Canadian biathletes, defended his decision to attend an international competition in Austria in mid-December, 2006, at the height of the police search for Ms. Bédard. He said he had made necessary arrangements to return home immediately if the situation required it.
Ms. Bédard was arrested on Dec. 22 and spent two weeks in a U.S. jail before returning to Quebec City, where she was released on bail in early January.
The jury of six women and six men is expected to hear testimony over the next two to three weeks before rendering its verdict.