Sect children to have DNA tests

Updated 08.52 Sat Apr 19 2008
Keywords: tests, DNA, compound, sect, Texas, Latter Day Saints, Jesus Christ, Church, Fundamentalist

A Texas judge has ordered for more than 400 children removed from a polygamous sect to have DNA tests.

Judge Barbara Walther said the 416 children would be kept by the state and, along with their parents, must undergo genetic testing to determine their relationships.

The ruling came after the judge heard 21 hours of testimony over two days in one of the largest custody cases in US history

The ruling came after the judge heard 21 hours of testimony over two days in one of the largest custody cases in US history.

Child welfare officials told the court they were having difficulty determining how the children and adults from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) were related because of evasive or changing answers.

DNA samples will be taken on Monday at the main shelter where children are being kept and parents will be able to submit samples on Tuesday in Eldorado, closer to the Yearning For Zion Ranch in west Texas, in a bid to ascertain the relationships between the children and the adults.

The ranch was raided on April 3 after a 16-year-old girl from the sect claimed her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her.

The children were taken away from the desert compound because of evidence of physical and sexual abuse, including the forcing of underage girls into marriage and childbearing, the judge heard.

Authorities said only a few of the children were teenage girls; roughly a third were younger than four and more than two dozen were teenage boys. But about 20 women or more gave birth when they were minors, some as young as 13.

The Child Protective Services agency argued that the teachings of the sect - to marry shortly after puberty, have as many children as possible and obey their fathers or their prophet, imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs - amounted to abuse.

He is in prison for being an accomplice to rape and he was convicted in Utah last year of forcing a 14-year-old into marrying an older man.

Mr Walsh told the court that the sect did not promote underage marriages until Jeffs took over as the sect's "prophet".

Meanwhile, Colorado Springs officials arrested 33-year-old Rozita Swinton on suspicion of making a false report.

Officers found items indicating a possible connection between Swinton and calls made to a Texas crisis centre, and authorities in Colorado confirmed Swinton has a history of making false reports.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.