A British Columbia man living in a polygamist sect has 25 wives and 101 children with brides as young as 15, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police allege.
Winston Blackmore, 52, is charged with one count of practicing polygamy as a member of the Bountiful sect, which has about 1,000 members.
In an affidavit filed with the provincial Supreme Court, the RCMP alleges since 1976, Blackmore had nine child brides, four of whom were 15, CTV reported. In Vancouver, he told reporters “that’s wrong” as documents were being filed for a pre-trial hearing.
The RCMP named four of the brides who allegedly had their first children by Blackmore before they turned 18. Federal law was changed in 2008 to raise the age of marital consent to 16 from 14.
His lawyers have said his defense will be the ban on polygamy violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for April, but Blackmore’s lawyers are trying to have the case thrown out on procedural issues.
I couldn’t care less how many spouses anyone wants to have. If it’s mutual consent, you’re not harming anyone else – stay out of their lives.
no one has pointed out the irony that the biggest opponents of gay marriage are the Mormons.
Polygamy at one point WAS “traditional marriage”. And anyone who argues that monogamy etc. is “natural” or “traditional” is deluding themselves. Marital rape was also once considered a man’s right.
Wow, I wonder how many he can get in a pile?
In Islam they are limited to 4 Wives, but personally I think any man is crazy that has more than 1. If it is a relationship of mutual respect and trust, maybe a relationship of 2 wives is possible, but allot of rare understanding must be in place. Howevwe all that said, I still believe that the Government shuld stay out of it!! What is the difference of a man having multiple wives or multiple girlfriends and having children with them?. When he takes a wife at least he is standng up to be responsible for his actions. (sort of) We limit our selves by the morals of what others think. If a man can afford to have more tha 1 wife, so be it.. I dont believe it is any of my business, and I would expect the same in return. But somewhere a number of 25 is well beyond any sence of normalcy, these women were wifes in name only.. its not possible that he was able to treat all of them as a wife. 15 is a little young as most would agree, but thats a failrly modern idea too. Even Canada just changed the concent to 16 from 14 as the article states, a few years ago.. I guess most people are not trapping young beaver for a living any more up in Canada? So their Jealous?…
I guess he gets to have a mutltiple woman fantacy every night (or day). And I am sure he’s bored with it by now!!!
All woman are full of shit an eventually they find a way to give to you… poor man!!!
he smiled for the Camera… but maybe because he will get to go away soon!!!
Wish I had that much wives….it would have been so cool but then again, there are some rules which you should follow before you can marry more women…as Eideard put it, It my life!
let the bashing begin.
If he can manage this brood make him CEO of General Motors!
If they are happy, I’m happy.
People should mind their own businesses.
Other people don’t need our help to mess up their lives. They can do that on their own.
I’d say at a couple dozen wives and a century of kids, the man might welcome a nice peaceful prison sentence.
Had this size of a plural marriage existed then, Dante would have given us another circle to hell.
Christianity is a hell of a drug.
Andd he’ll get a reality TV show in 1,2,3…
I don’t get it. Where are all the “Marriage is between one man and one woman” people? Any story about gays brings out at least two or three of them. But a story about a man with twenty-five wives doesn’t?
Weird.
Wow! Canada is really against equal marriage rights for all.