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Sect member refuses to testify

The Associated Press, USA
Jan. 23, 2004
www.heraldtribune.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Saturday January 24, 2004

Sect member refuses to testify against mother charged in baby’s starvation

TAUNTON, Mass. — A member of a religious sect is refusing to testify against a woman charged with starving her infant son to death.

The Body

In early press reports, The Body was referred to generically as the “Attleboro cult” or “Attleboro sect.”

The group’s doctrines and practices have been heavily influenced by the teachings of Carol Balizet’s Home in Zion Ministries

The Body is a cult, both sociologicall and theologically. Theologically it a cult of Christianity

Research resources on The Body

David Corneau cited his religious beliefs in refusing to be a prosecution witness against former sect member Karen Robidoux, 28, whose trial on a charge of second-degree murder began Thursday.

“He lives following the ways of Jesus Christ and the Bible,” Corneau’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., said Friday during a hearing in Taunton Superior Court.

Assistant District Attorney Walter Shea immediately sought contempt of court charges against Corneau, who was granted immunity from prosecution in 2000. At the time, police were investigating the deaths of two children, Karen Robidoux’s son, Samuel, and Corneau’s son, Jeremiah, who died during a home birth.

Robidoux’s son starved to death after another member of the sect claimed God wanted them to deprive the boy of solid foods.

Corneau, 36, testified against Robidoux’s husband, Jacques, in 2002. Jacques Robidoux, one of the leaders of the tiny sect called “The Body,” was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his son and is now serving a life sentence.

Shea said the immunity agreement requires Corneau to testify at Karen Robidoux’s trial.

Judge Elizabeth B. Donovan did not immediately rule on the request to hold Corneau in contempt. Donovan said she wanted to review the immunity agreement before issuing her ruling.

Corneau led authorities to the bodies of his son and Samuel Robidoux, who were both buried in Baxter State Park in northern Maine.