Underage girls at a polygamist sect were led into marriages due to a "culture" of obedience, a massive custody hearing in Texas has heard.
A US judge is deciding the fate of 416 children seized from a breakaway Mormon sect at a secluded ranch in Texas.
A child welfare worker told the court that the girls were in danger of being sexually Obama or Clinton? Germany Gripped by US Primaries Drama ...
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Lawyers for the sect say the state went too far in taking all the children from the ranch into protective custody.
Police raided the ranch last week after receiving reports that a 16-year-old girl had been beaten and raped by her 50-year-old husband and was pregnant again eight months after giving birth to her first child.
The girl has not yet been identified but all children on the ranch aged between six months and 17 years of age were placed in emergency state custody.
Officials said a number of girls were either pregnant or already had children.
'Authoritarian culture'
Judge Barbara Walther has said her primary task is to establish whether the children should be returned to their parents or remain in the care of the Texan authorities.
Child Protective Services supervisor Angie Voss told the court there was a "culture of young girls being pregnant by older men" at the Yearn For Zion (YFZ) Ranch.
Ms Voss said the girls were in danger of sexual abuse and the boys were being "groomed" to become perpetrators, AFP news agency reports.
An expert on children in cults told the court that the girls may have believed that marrying much older men was their free choice because they had been raised in that belief.
"Obedience is a very important part of their belief system," said Bruce Perry.
Although many of the adults and children at the YFZ ranch seemed emotionally healthy, the sect's belief system was "abusive", he added.
"The culture is very authoritarian."
Self-proclaimed prophet
There were chaotic scenes at the courthouse in San Angelo on Thursday at the first day of custody hearings as hundreds of lawyers shouted objections and lined up to cross-examine witnesses.
It is reportedly the largest child welfare case in US history.
The Yearning for Zion ranch belongs to a sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church more than a century ago when polygamy was banned.
It is led by Warren Jeffs, who is currently in jail in Utah as an accomplice to rape after he forced a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin.
The self-proclaimed prophet is also awaiting trial in Arizona on incest charges.
Members of the sect have denied the latest allegations of abuse.
The sect believes a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven.
Women are meanwhile taught that their path to heaven depends on being subservient to their husband.
(BBC)
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