Obedience taught in sect

Photo: The Canadian Press

Winston Blackmore is seen outside his community hall in the isolated religious commune of Bountiful, B.C., on Nov. 23, 2011.

A woman who was one of 27 wives to a leader of a British Columbia polygamous sect told a courtroom Wednesday that women and girls in the religious community were taught to be obedient, marry young and have as many children as possible.

Jane Blackmore was the first witness called by special prosecutor Peter Wilson in the trial of three people with ties to the southeastern B.C. community of Bountiful.

Brandon Blackmore, Gail Blackmore and James Oler are each charged with taking girls from Canada into the United States for sexual purposes.

Jane Blackmore told the court she was Winston Blackmore's first wife. He is one of the leaders of the polygamous community of Bountiful, where some of the residents engage in plural marriages.

Wilson told the court in his opening statement that his line of questioning was meant to outline the community's beliefs around sex and marriage and prove that there was intent by the three accused to commit the offences, which date back to 2004.

Jane Blackmore, whose father was a convert to the faith, testified that she moved with her family from Brooks, Alta., to Bountiful as an infant in 1957.

She said she is related to two of the accused, sharing the same father with Oler and Brandon Blackmore is her former brother-in-law.

The slight, soft-spoken woman described learning from a young age that plural marriage is key to reaching the "highest degree of celestial glory" in the afterlife, but that it's necessary to live a life that is "secret and separate" from mainstream society.

All three of the accused were present for those lessons, she said.

Around the time she turned 15, her father began asking every six months whether she was ready to marry, she testified.

"Each time, I did my best to delay that journey."

At 18, she finally told her father she was ready, saying that many in the community were becoming "anxious about my unmarried state."

"I decided to concede to the pressure."