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| Nachman Helbrans and his family |
The children of the Lev Tahor cult will finally get relief after a judge ordered parents to hand over their kids to the custody of child welfare services, according to court proceedings in Canada.
A juvenile court judge in Quebec, has ordered 14 children of the radical Jewish sect to be seized from their homes in Ontario, and placed in foster care.
The move comes after a marathon day of emergency hearings that Justice Pierre Hamel summed up by saying he found there to be a "preponderance of evidence" that the children are at "grave risk of harm,” including sexual abuse by child marriages, physical abuse, psychological abuse and neglect when it comes to their health.
The judge noted that a 16-year-old girl recently gave birth, and that Shlomo Helbrans forces 13-year-old girls into marriages.
A former Lev Tahor member told the judge that Helbrans tells his followers that he is God.