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MONTREAL — Under different circumstances, it would have been the highest praise for a cinema makeup artist.

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The photos of mutilated bodies Rémy Couture posted online were so realistic an Austrian pathologist who examined them concluded they might depict an actual murder.

But in this case, a complaint about the disturbing images was passed to Canadian police. In October 2009, police ensnared Mr. Couture outside his Montreal home and arrested him for producing, possessing and distributing obscene material.

Initially, police thought they might have something more serious on their hands, a Quebec Superior Court jury heard Tuesday.

Sergeant Detective Eric Lavallée of the Montreal police testified when he received the case in January 2009, he was not sure whether the photos depicted the actual torture and murder of the women photographed.