Living in a row of tents and sheds, the Colt family kept to themselves on their little slice of land in southwest Austrailia. Also dubbed the Colt incest clan, the Colts are an Australian family engaged in over four generations of incest. The story starts with Tim and June Colt, a brother and sister from New Zealand, who moved to Australia and reproduced with one another, forcing their family members to do the same. Here's how authorities discovered the horrifying cult and uncovered years of abuse and neglect.Have you heard of other cases as extreme as this? Let us know in the comments.
For 40 years, the family grew. Brother and sister Tim and June Colt moved to New Zealand as children. After June married her brother, she gave birth to seven children: Martha, Frank, Paula, Betty, Cherry, Rhonda, and Charlie. The family then moved to Victoria, Australia. Within 40 years, the cult grew to include grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, as the Colt family engaged in various forms of incest.
The family rarely engaged with the town. Sometimes the Colt men sold firewood or did small labor jobs, but besides a few trips into town on their four-wheeler, they were hardly noteworthy. The women and children would topple out from time to time, dirty and rail-thin, and no one knew their names. To date, most still do not know who they are.
Schooling. The children only attended school when welfare officers visited. They needed remedial teaching due to their lack of education and mental disabilities. Many could not speak intelligibly.
Many of the children suffered from deformities. The family had a slew of medical problems. The children were deaf, blind, mentally handicapped or physically deformed. They lived without running water, electricity or a sewage system.
Authorities rescued 12 children. It wasn’t until child protection officers appeared unannounced one day on the property that the truth about the Colts was revealed. All under the age of 16, the kids' names were never released to protect their identity. Neighbors said they never heard laughter or play (despite all the children in the family), but heard chainsaw noises occasionally.
Police records describe the scene. Police went on file to report that “the first caravan was reported to be in a very dirty and hazardous state, with mud, dirt, cigarette butts and rubbish on the caravan floor. Three children's beds were observed to be dirty and unmade; cooking facilities were observed to be very dirty; a barbecue gas heater, used for heating, was deemed to be unsafe for the children sleeping in the caravan."
Besides being sickly, the children were neglected. They did not know how to shower or use toilet paper. They were wild, and they did not know how to engage with normal people.
Cases of pregnancy went unnoticed. Many of the girls became pregnant during their time on the farm. When this happened, they would simply miscarry so they would not arouse suspicions amongst doctors, townsfolk or the teachers they rarely saw.
They tried protecting their family until the very end. Many of the Colt women claimed that outsiders had fathered their children. However, DNA testing proved otherwise. Scientists, using genetic testing, say that the family tree is a nightmare of “homozygosity,” which happens when a child’s parents are closely related.
The numbers. Eight of the Colt children have parents who are brother and sister, mother and son or father and daughter. Six of the children have parents who are either aunt and nephew or uncle and niece. There were even cases of half-siblings and grandparent-grandchild couples conceiving children.
The children reveal the truth. When they spoke to psychologists and child protection workers, the Colt children said their farm was a sexual free-for-all. The adults showed them pornographic magazines, touched the children and had sexual intercourse with them. They even forced some children to perform oral sex on their relatives while others watched. Everyone on the farm was aware of these acts.
More instances of abuse. Besides sexual abuse, the children mutilated the genitalia of animals for fun. They tortured animals, especially puppies and cats.
The mothers are trying to get their children back. Some of the Colt women have hired lawyers to argue in the courts to get their children back. The courts describe this case as unique because of the reluctance of the victims to come forward and their willingness to be reunited with their abusers.
The Children's Court of New South Wales permanently removed the children from the farm and publicized their decision. The neglect of the children (including the genetic evidence) were viewed as dispositive in the matter, holding, "There is no realistic possibility of restoration of any of the children" to their biological family.
The court’s judgement. "The Children's Court subsequently made findings in respect of each child that he or she is in need of care and protection […] It is not now disputed that each of the children was neglected and that the circumstances in which they were living at the time of their removal were deficient, justifying their removal. What remains in issue are allegations of sexual abuse, incest and inter-generational sexual abuse in the wider Colt family group, both on the farm and historically,” says court documentation.
