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Didn't know wife was 15

The trial of a British Columbia religious leader charged with polygamy heard Monday that the accused told police he didn't know a teenage girl's true age when he married her.

Winston Blackmore is the head of a religious group in Bountiful, a community in southeastern B.C. where residents are known for practising a faith that condones plural marriage.

Blackmore is accused of marrying 24 women. James Oler, a former leader in Bountiful, is also on trial and is accused of having four wives.

In video played at the B.C. Supreme Court trial in Cranbrook, a police officer asks Blackmore about a television appearance where the religious leader admits he married one of his wives when she was 15 years old.

Blackmore responds by saying the girl's parents lied to him, telling him she was 16.

The footage presented by the prosecution shows Blackmore expressing fears about incriminating himself because his lawyer isn't present, but he does not deny practising polygamy.

Many people would be jealous of a family like his, Blackmore tells the officer.

"I am who I am. I've never denied that," he is heard saying in the video.



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