Texas set for sect custody battle

Marie said she had not been able to say goodbye to her three sons

A judge in Texas has been deliberating how to handle a huge custody case involving some 416 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch.

The children were removed on 3 April as part of an investigation into physical and sexual abuse. A custody hearing is set to be held on Thursday.

Some mothers have hit out at a decision to separate them from their children.

Texas officials say it is procedure to keep children from parents during investigations into abuse and neglect.

State troopers and officials acted earlier this month after a teenage girl phoned a domestic violence centre to say she had been abused at the 1,700-acre Yearn for Zion (YFZ) ranch.

Investigators have alleged that it was the site of a pervasive cycle of sexual abuse against children, with girls as young as 13 being "spiritually married" to older husbands, investigators have alleged.

The compound, located about 160 miles (260km) north-west of the Texan city of San Antonio, belongs to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway branch of Mormonism.

Some 139 women, most of them mothers, had accompanied the children off the ranch.

The ranch had been under surveillance by the authorities

On Monday, Texas child protection services moved most of the children from Fort Concho to a single large shelter at the San Angelo Coliseum, which holds several thousand people and is normally used for sport and concerts.

Two dozen teenage boys are being housed at another location, officials said.

'Protected'

Some of the mothers had complained that their children were getting sick after living in crowded conditions in the fort, although officials say some of the youngsters already had chicken pox when they arrived.

Officials said that while they understood that mothers wanted to be with their children, "normal protocol is to separate children from their parents during investigations into abuse and neglect".

Only those with very young children were allowed to stay while the rest were given the choice of returning to the ranch or going to a safe location.

Some of the women later hit out at the way they and their children had been treated.

Speaking at the ranch, Marie, who has boys aged nine, seven and five, told reporters that they were not allowed to say goodbye to their children.

"We could not even ask a question," she said.

The children had been protected and loved, Marie said, adding that she felt they were "being abused by this experience".

Testimony

On Monday, Judge Barbara Walther met dozens of lawyers to work out the logistics for Thursday's hearing to determine if the children should remain in state care.

"Quite frankly, I'm not sure what we're going to do," Judge Walther said.

"If I give everybody five minutes, that would be 70 hours of testimony."

The mothers whose children are in custody will need lawyers too

The sect's prophet is Warren Jeffs, a self-confessed polygamist who was jailed in Utah last year for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who married her cousin.

The self-proclaimed prophet is currently awaiting trial in Arizona on separate charges of being an accomplice to four counts of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages.

His 10,000-strong sect, which dominates the towns of Colorado City in Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, split from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago.

Members believe a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven. Women are taught that their path to heaven depends on being subservient to their husband.

Polygamy is illegal in the US.