When a group of naked kidnappers forced three people out of their Leduc County home last year, it was to save them from the end of the world.
That and other details about the 2017 case have emerged following the kidnappers’ appearances in Leduc provincial court last week.
Previously, the father of the teens involved suggested the accused had unknowingly drunk hallucinogenic tea. The agreed statement of facts submitted in court last week says said alcohol and drugs were not factors—nor was there any mention of tea.
Instead, court papers detail a family visit that spiraled when the relatives thought Armageddon had arrived.
One of the women had taken her daughters to visit her nephew and his wife at a home near Leduc on November 2. All five are Jehovah’s witnesses.
Over the next three days of their stay, the court document says they didn’t leave the house and barely ate. One of the teenagers recalled watching movies, but also hearing screaming and banging and seeing ashes in the air.
Some of the five hid “because they believed that they were in danger, either from bad or wicked people outside or from demons,” says the document.
According to the papers, the group believed they had witnessed the Great Tribulation—a sign, in Christian theology, of the end of the world—and that Armageddon was November 6.
They rushed to find safety and to rescue a neighbouring family.
"Four who were naked were changing but they had to leave right away because it was unsafe, so they left without clothes," the document says.
At a neighbouring residence, the group forced a man, his adult daughter and her six-week-old son out of the house without shoes. The man was put into the trunk and ordered to chant “Jehovah” 10 times. His daughter and grandchild were put in the backseat of the BMW SUV with the teen girls, who sat naked under a blanket.
The document says those in the vehicle also chanted “Jehovah” while the SUV sped to Nisku.
Because the trunk hadn’t latched properly, the man was able to climb out when the vehicle slowed. The woman escaped with her baby after getting her hand slammed in the SUV’s door. The three were helped by a passing truck.
However, the document says the group of kidnappers then rammed the truck from behind, throwing the woman and her baby into the dash. They were not injured. The SUV ended up in a ditch.
When RCMP arrived, the five continued to chant and refused to leave the vehicle, sometimes clinging to it or each other.
The document reveals one of the teens believed police “were monsters who would kill them.”
Police said the group “displayed extreme strength.” Two were unaffected by pepper spray. The adults were also shot with Tasers between two and four times before they relented. One adult even slid under the vehicle and had to be dragged out.
The group seemed “demonized” and “obviously not in their right minds,” the victims later told police.
The adults, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, each pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful confinement. The mother also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. Her two teenage daughters were not charged.
A judge has ordered pre-sentence reports and risk assessments, which could include psychological testing.
The three adults are scheduled to return to court for sentencing December 20.
With files from Canadian Press
