
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050136
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOUSTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DOCTOR: CULT CHILDREN NOT ABUSED BUT KORESH TALKED TO KIDS ABOUT SEX

The surviving Branch Davidian children said they had sexually explicit discussions with David Koresh under the guise of Bible studies, but weren't sexually abused, a psychiatrist said Tuesday.

Dr. Bruce Perry, who heads the team treating the 21 children released by Koresh during the cult's 51-day siege with federal agents, said the children reported that they were instructed in paramilitary procedures, hit with a wooden paddle for minor offenses such as spilling a drink, and that girls as young as 11 were inducted into wifehood with Koresh.

"I think some of the children feel a great deal of affection for David Koresh," Perry said. "And I also think the majority of these kids feel a great deal of fear of David Koresh."

None of the 21 children was Koresh's biological child. The FBI has said Koresh was thought to be the father of the 17 children who died in the April 19 fire that ended the standoff.

The team has spoken with 19 of the 21, ages 4 to 11. The other two were too young to be interviewed.

So far no evidence exists that any of the children released before the fire were sexually abused, he said. He said that the children reported they discussed sexual matters during Bible studies and that the children exhibited a great knowledge of sex.

"Associations between sexuality and religion and power are present in a malignant form and permeate the thoughts and comments of the older girls released from the ranch," Perry wrote in his report.

Perry said that Koresh gave girls as young as 11 plastic Stars of David that signified they were ready to have sex with him.

Perry said the children were reluctant to divulge information at first. But over the course of two months, they became attached to the social workers, who visited them daily.

Perry said the team hadn't found any evidence to support President Clinton and U.S. Attorney Janet Reno's contention that the cult children had been abused.

"It's a very complex set of issues," he said.

by CNB