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Sect kids undergo DNA tests
22/04/2008 09:37 - (SA)
San Antonio - State authorities on
Monday began running DNA tests on over 400 children removed
from a polygamist compound in west Texas to determine if some
were born to underage mothers.
Such evidence could be key in an investigation of possible
abuse at the secretive compound linked to a break-away Mormon
sect run by followers of jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs.
"It is a cheek swab and it is very non-invasive," said
Patrick Crimmins of the Texas Department of Children and Family
Services of the tests.
A judge on Friday ordered the tests to determine parentage
and relationships within the community. Meanwhile, the children
must remain in the department's custody.
Crimmins said the DNA testing will continue for several
days. For the tests to be useful, the adults would also have to
give DNA samples. However they can legally refuse to do so
which could complicate matters further and delay legal
decisions about the fate of the children.
The largest child welfare case in Texas history began
earlier this month when authorities removed the children from a
remote Texas ranch in response to a complaint of abuse there.
It was the latest legal confrontation between the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
which, regards plural marriage as ordained by God, and civil
authorities.
In November, the sect's spiritual leader Jeffs was
sentenced in a Utah court to 10 years to life in prison as an
accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her
19-year-old first cousin.
Polygamy is outlawed in the United States. Male followers
of such sects typically marry one woman officially and take the
others as "spiritual wives".
The mainstream Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the
Mormon faith is officially called, renounced polygamy over a
century ago and is at pains to distance itself from the few
thousand renegades who still practice plural marriage.
- Reuters
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