The Colt family, found living in a makeshift camp in an isolated farming valley in Australia, kept 38 blood relatives in squalor — with children so severely affected by inbreeding they were unable to speak or see
The discovery of a horrific incest cult hidden within a family home sent shockwaves through those who uncovered the harrowing situation.
A deeply disturbing incestring, started by two great-great grandparents in a remote farming valley, was brought to light after avoiding any intervention for years.
Their descendants were found to be severely disabled and unable to speak or see as a result of relentless inbreeding. Social services were horrified when they found 38 people living in squalor, all related.
The children, subjected to extreme abuse, were so severely disabled that they were unable to talk. After being placed in foster care, their adoptive families noticed deeply troubling sexualised behaviour.
In a disturbing development, one of the parents subsequently shared a post on Facebook with the sickening caption “Love Makes a Family”, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.
The ordeal for the Colts, a pseudonym assigned by the court, began with June and Tim’s marriage in New Zealand in 1966 before they relocated to Australia. The couple had seven children, with Martha being the youngest.
Each of the 38 children within the group endured prolonged sexual abuse at the hands of siblings, cousins, fathers, an uncle, and a grandfather, spanning four generations. The Colt family first came under official scrutiny in June 2010.
Over the subsequent two years, authorities filed seven “risk of significant harm reports” centred primarily around neglect, medical neglect, and truancy concerns.
In 2010, social services finally gained access to the makeshift camp where the family lived. The site lacked even the most basic amenities, including running water and toilets.
The children were unable to comb their hair, had no knowledge of how to use toilet paper, couldn’t brush their teeth, and ate with their hands.
The caravan’s cooking area was caked in grime, vegetables were left to rot in the fridge, and the bed sheets appeared to be heavily stained with dirt. A kangaroo was discovered sleeping on one of the children’s beds.
Many of the children displayed visible physical deformities, with misaligned eyes, low-set ears, and appearances suggesting they were decades older than their true age. Only Rhonda’s five year old daughter was found not to have been fathered by a blood relative.
All remaining children were the products of incest.
Despite genetic testing proving to the contrary, Betty, Martha, and Raylene all continue to deny that their children are the result of incest.
Three of the girls, aged seven, eight, and nine, claimed their uncle, Charlie Colt, who lived on the property when the children were removed, was also their father. The nine-year-old also alleged that Charlie Colt had had sexual relations with her.
It is believed the family patriarch, Timothy Colt, who died in 2009, fathered children with both one of his daughters and one of his granddaughters.
Five of the boys who were removed also confessed to torturing animals on the farm, including puppies and cats, and admitted to mutilating the genitals of animals.
Initially, the family complied with a request from social services in June 2012 to improve their living conditions, but by July, police were forced to remove 12 children, all cousins aged between five and 15 years, after it was established they were at risk of harm if they remained at the property.
The children who were taken into care will remain there until they reach 18. The case came to public attention when the children’s court of New South Wales opted to make its ruling public.
In 2021, during the trials of other Colt family members, evidence emerged suggesting that Martha’s father, Tim Colt, may also be the father of his daughter Betty’s 13 children.
Martha, who was known to share a “marital bed” with her brother Charlie, had five children with him. Her trial heard that her children were likely fathered by Charlie, her own father Tim, and another brother.
Three family members, Roderick, Martha, and Derek Colt, filed intentions to appeal in 2020, but these have since lapsed. Of the 80 original charges against eight Colts – which included incest, child sexual abuse, indecency against a child, and perjury – many were subsequently dropped.
Charlie Colt, who initially faced 27 charges, was cleared of two counts and acquitted, with the remaining charges subsequently dropped. His brother Roderick, however, was convicted of raping his niece and half-sister Petra.
During the trial, it emerged Petra was in fact his half-sister, having been born to Roderick’s sister Betty and their father Tim.
Despite all eight family members being remanded following their arrest in 2018, only four have received custodial sentences.
Martha, along with her elder sisters Betty and Rhonda, and Betty’s daughter Raylene, faced charges for lying about the paternity of their children. In a 2018 Facebook post, Betty Colt shared a photograph of herself with two female relatives, bearing the caption “Love Makes a Family”.
Rhonda received a 14-month intensive corrections order (ICO) for perjury, which concluded in 2021. Raylene was likewise handed a 16-month ICO for perjury, which also came to an end in 2021.
Betty was found guilty on four counts of perjury, one count of lying under oath, and one count of perverting the course of justice, resulting in a 14-month prison term.
Her maximum sentence of two years and four months is due to expire in August. Martha, the youngest of the sisters, admitted to five counts of perjury and one count of making a false statement under oath.
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