Top musician cheated former pupil over sale of rare violin
A MUSIC teacher has won a court case against a world-renowned musician after he ripped her off during a £40,000 sale for a rare violin.
Ruzica West, 38, first offered her 18th-century Landolfi instrument, which is insured at up to £80,000, for £40,000 to her ex-tutor Prof Mateja Marinkovic. He also agreed to buy a bow for £20,000.
But Ruzica, who lives in Ilford, Essex, and needed the money for medical fees, pulled out of the deal when the top violinist said she would have to travel to Belgrade in Serbia to collect the cash, which was hidden inside a piano.
The following year she and her family again approached Marinkovic and offered him the violin, which was made by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, an Italian craftsman considered to be one of the finest ever. It was given to Ruzica by her grandma.
Ruzica claimed that for the sake of a quick sale, she agreed a deal worth £40,000, comprising £26,000 in cash plus the proceeds of sale of a “£12,000” 19th-century French violin which the professor owned. But soon after she accepted the deal, she learned that the value of the French violin was only £1,500 to £2,000.
She accused Prof Marinkovic – who taught her at the Purcell School for musically gifted children in Bushey, Herts – of breach of contract. He denied he owed a penny more than £26,000.
But at Central London County Court this week, Judge Ian Avent ruled the deal had been for £40,000 and Marinkovic must pay.
He added: “I apprehend that Ms West instinctively felt uncomfortable with what was initially proposed. Firstly, the sum of £60,000 is a very significant sum, especially to keep in cash; secondly, I am at a loss to understand why anyone would keep it in a piano.
“Thirdly, I am uneasy as to the provenance of the money which was said to be as a consequence of a land or property transaction by Prof Marinkovic’s father but with no details of what this involved.”
Marinkovic was not present for the judgment after catching Covid-19.