Roch "Moïse" Thériault is dead – and so are some of his family

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Today’s Blog Post


Roch "Moïse" Thériault is dead – and so are some of his family
On one of my day trips from Peterborough we arrived at Burnt River. We had been meandering through the Ontario countryside on a sleepy afternoon. We stopped at the bridge to watch the hearty young men jump from the top of the bridge into the reddish brown water below.

Down from the bridge was a good spot to fish. With a few bites and a lazy river sliding by, it is an idyllic place to spend a Sunday afternoon.

When I came back a told someone that we had been to a beautiful village of Burnt River, their reaction was very odd. They were long time residents of this area and knew everything about everyone. Old memories were their jewel.

“You went to that awful place and fished there?!” was the reaction that I heard first. Then they poured out their guts and stories that they knew only too well. It was the home of Roch "Moïse" Thériault, who was the notorious cult leader who lived in Burnt River. He had been in prison since 1989 and had been convicted of murder in 1993. And he done all of this in Burnt River… the beautiful little village that we had visited.

Two days ago, Roch "Moïse" Thériault was murdered in a prison cell in the Dorchester prison in the Maritimes. One of his fellow prisoners had taken his life.

Checking Wikipedia this AM I found the following – right up to date… quote…
“Roch "Moïse" Thériault (May 16, 1947 – February 26, 2011) was the former leader of a small religious group based near Burnt River, Ontario, Canada. Between 1977 and 1989 he held sway over as many as 12 adults and 26 children. He used all of the nine women as concubines, and may have fathered most of the children in the group.

He was arrested for assault in 1989, and convicted of murder in 1993. At the time of his death in 2011 he was continuing to serve out a life sentence, having been denied parole in 2002. Along with Clifford Olsen and Paul Bernardo, Thériault was considered one of Canada's most notorious criminals.

During his reign, Thériault mutilated several members. He once used a meat cleaver to chop off the hand and part of the arm of Gabrielle Lavallée, one of his concubines, also removing eight of her teeth. He was accused of castrating a 2-year-old boy, as well as at least one adult male, and of murdering his legal spouse, Solange Boilard, by disembowelment, purportedly while trying to perform surgery on her, in 1988.

The group was based primarily on religious themes, such as womens' obedience to men, polygamy, harsh punishments, the righteousness of the leader and the sinfulness of the followers, and living miracles. Thériault was called "father (papy)" and re-christened all members with biblical names. He also claimed to be a reincarnation of the prophet Moses, and demanded the respect appropriate for such a figure. He allegedly tried to resurrect a woman he had killed by sawing the top off her corpse's skull and masturbating into the cavity.

Thériault was able to persuade his followers to sell their belongings, sever ties with their families, and move to a commune near Burnt River, about 100 km northeast of Toronto. Thériault convinced the women that all of them were his wives, and that they should bear him children. Even while he was in prison, three of his wives continued conjugal visits and two of the three bore him more children.”
End quote.

What a sick man he was. Now it is over. Well kind of….

Did you catch the last part about the account, three wives continued to visit him for “conjugal visits and two or three bore him more children”?

This isn’t over after he was murdered. This weekend there will be deep grieving by some people that still follow this “prophet” – who still believe that he is the Original Moses.

There are still children alive and women alive that he has deeply tortured or loved.

Where are they today and are they getting help?

I wonder if they body will be transported out to his home area, or the home area that the women now live in? What kind of funeral will he have on the outside now? That will happen… but no one has fished out these details yet.

If the “family” that he had developed is reading this… we care for you as well. In our work of helping victims of crime and also the ex-offenders we can find you help today.

Today I think of the terrible tragedy that the children of this many have lived through and now will live for the rest of their lives. They are hidden from the general public’s view.

There were possibly 26 kids by this man. 26 stories of a future that is twisted and bent.

At this time in British Columbia there is a large group that function in a similar way. Men are the dominant and only wise creation of God. Women are subservient to the men. Men father many children and control everything.

Roch "Moïse" Thériault’s story only makes me want to stand up and question authorities and B.C. even more.

How can you allow this to continue in B.C.? Ontario’s story should have been enough. Can you not see the potential for harm.

These folk were religious… believers in something or someone.

I go to church. I am a religious person. My friends know me as that as well. And some folk I meet now kind of hesitate now when I tell them that I am a former minister, a religious body leader… Oh boy!

I can certainly see why they see me as potentially a crazy that may be involved in a weird sect of people.

We do go to a building… but who knows what happens in that place.

I was shaken with the news that Roch "Moïse" Thériault died two days ago. When a friend told me the news last evening I couldn’t stop thinking about the “family” of this man.

I will pray for them today. Wherever they might be – they need help big time.

I can only imagine what the horror that “family members have gone through over these past years.

If there is anything we can do – please contact me. I want to help.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/ 

Resource
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roch_Th%C3%A9riault