Polygamy leader (Jeffs) told rape victim to repent

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

ST. GEORGE, Utah (Reuters) - A young woman told a Utah court on Friday she wanted to die after being forced into sex at age 14 in a marriage arranged by one of the biggest U.S. polygamous sects.

But the self-styled prophet of the breakaway Mormon clan told her she was disobedient and needed to repent and submit to her new husband, the woman testified.

The woman, now 21, testified she had never been kissed or had a boyfriend before the 2001 wedding to her 19-year-old cousin and locked herself in the bathroom after the ceremony.

The wedding was presided over by Warren Jeffs, 51, the leader and self-described "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a breakaway Mormon sect that practices polygamy.

<snip>

The accuser has said she lived with her mother, stepfather and about 15 of his other wives and 30 other children.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN9D40853320070915?sp=true

[kdmorris]

1. Poor girl!

I realize she's not a girl anymore, but I have three daughters. I cannot imagine forcing them to "marry" at the age of 14. I mean, they aren't children at 14, but they aren't adults, either. And they didn't live the sheltered existence that most of the girls living in the FLDS live.

Sounds like she managed to overcome it, though, as the article states that she has remarried. That takes a lot of courage!

[iamjoy]

2. This Is What Gets Me...

"Jeffs' attorneys have said the case is one of religious persecution and have questioned how Jeffs would have known that rape was being committed behind bedroom doors."

He didn't know? Uh, duh, what does he think happens after marriage? What does he mean when he says that wives should submit to their husbands, giving themselves "body, mind and soul." That if it was rape it was her fault because she should have submitted to God's will? :mad:

Of course, another problem is Utah law allowing the age of consent to be 14.

I feel very bad for this young woman. I wonder about the husband, too. How much was he a victim and to what extent was he a participant? While it's usually hard to think of a rapist as a victim, maybe in this case he felt he was doing the right thing. I mean, Jeffs may have persuaded him that having sex with the girl was carrying out God's will. Or, maybe the husband was just an insensitive clod who didn't give a damn as long he got laid. Or, maybe he's a sadistic jerk himself who enjoyed it. :shrug:

[Scairp]

7. Doesn't matter if 14 is the age of consent

She says she didn't consent, and since no license was applied for and obtained, it wasn't a legal marriage anyway. It was nothing more than a twisted ritual with no legal implications whatsoever. Besides, as I recall the testimony, the "wedding" occured in Nevada.

[hedgehog]

3. "Step-father"? I wonder what happened to her father?

It may be that he was disobedient and had his wives and children handed on to another.

[Honeycombe8]

4. His sentence should be....

to be left alone in a room full of "liberated" women for about two hours. Or a choice between that an castration without sedation or painkillers.

Yeah....that sounds fair.

[melody]

5. This isn't a church, it's a criminal enterprise

It needs to be shutdown and the children taken away from there.

Of course, the GOP thinks that the church is always a good facade for a
criminal enterprise, so we'll have to wait for a Democrat in office in
Utah. At the rate things are happening, I now don't think we'll have to
wait for hell to freeze over.

[blondeatlast]

6. You've got it. One reason the Utah and Arizona AGs don't go on the offensive

more with the Jeffs' group is that not only are they embedded--mafia-like--into the border area institutions, but they are also very heavily armed with reported huge stockpiles of weapons.

It crosses state borders, but the Feds make no effort whatsoever to rein this hideous bunch in. Even the area Mormons want to see them dissolved and Jeffs do some very hard time, but the states haven't got the manpower (or local cooperation) to manage it.

Until the Feds get involved, and they should, since this bunch is Waco-like, nothing is going to happen.

[sarcasmo]

8. More Religious INSANITY.

[mopinko]

9. when does this kind of shit get put in the dsm??? when??

or should we just put it under sociopath?
and people wonder what some of us are not very patiently waiting for the say that we evolve out of this insanity. religion is a scourge.

[sarcasmo]

10. I guess they like to play the fear card to keep the flock in line.

[Imagevision]

11. Looking forward to Jeffs hooking up with "Bubba" in prison, what goes around...

[0007]

12. Warren Jeffs is one nasty man . . .

The woman, who cannot be identified, said she begged her husband not to touch her as he undressed her one night soon after their wedding.

"I can't do this, please don't,'" she said she told her husband. "I was sobbing. My whole entire body was shaking I was so scared. He didn't stop. He just laid me onto the bed and had sex."

Afterward, the woman said she felt dirty and took two bottles of painkillers. "I just wanted to die. I didn't want to deal with (my husband) anymore. I didn't want to deal with Warren, or the prophet, or my mother. ... I was so hurt by them," she said.

The woman later arranged a meeting with Jeffs and told him her husband was touching her in ways she did not fully understand."

"I told him (Jeffs) I was sorry I had failed so severely. ... He told me that I needed to repent, that I was not living up to my vows, I was not being obedient, I was not being submissive and that was what my problem was," she recounted.

Jeffs told her to go home "and give myself mind, body, and soul" to her husband.

Warren Jeffs is one sick son of a prick & bitch