The Colt Family of Australia: Utterly Depraved
The Colt clan is allegedly an infamous inbred Australian family.
A Most Foul Discovery
If the hills of New South Wales, Australia, could speak, they would have quite the tale to tell. On July 18, 2012, police and child protection agents removed 12 children, all cousins, from a farm in Boorowa.
This was not the first time authorities had been called to the farm. Over the course of two years, from 2010–2012, seven reports were filed against the family for child neglect, refusal to seek medical attention, and failure to attend school. Living conditions on the farm were substandard, and the family had been asked to make improvements.
Though some improvements had been made, the conditions were still uninhabitable. Despite the physical conditions, the children remained on the farm.
In July, 2012, a report from a concerned teacher prompted further investigation into the family. The teacher overheard one of the Colt girls tell another student:
"My sister is pregnant and we don’t know which of my brothers is the father.”
Authorities returned to the farm and removed 12 children from the property.
The farm where the Colt family lived
The Colt Family
[Note: The name of the family has been changed to protect the identities of the children.]
The children were part of a multigenerational family living in an assortment of tents, caravans and sheds on an isolated property in the hills. The nearest town was 20 miles away, and the family rarely left their farm. The locals in the nearby town remember seeing the family a few times a year, and remarked on how they never seemed very clean.
The conditions in which the Colt family lived were basic. There was no running water, and the insides of the caravans were coated in dirt. Exposed wires, chainsaws, and other unsafe items were found around the property. The refrigerators contained little food and some of it was rotten.
The children wore filthy clothing and slept on soiled beds littered with cigarette butts. A kangaroo was even found sleeping on one child's bed.
The children slept in tents inside a shed.
The Colt Children
The children had visible physical and cognitive ailments, including malnourishment, unintelligible speech, dysmorphic features, and hearing and sight problems. Medical examination revealed further issues such as fungal infections of the feet and mouth, extensive dental decay, psoriasis, and congenital health issues such as chronic renal failure, acute glaucoma, pneumonia and heart problems.
The children did not attend school regularly, though the family matriarch, Betty Colt, claimed they were homeschooled. One 15-year-old boy had the cognitive level of a 5-year-old. Many of the children could not read or write, and those who could were functioning well below their age level.
The children also lacked the knowledge of basic hygiene skills such as bathing, brushing their teeth, and using a toilet. One girl had never seen toilet paper, and one boy did not understand the concept of showering.
In addition to the developmental and cognitive delays, the children showed evidence of psychological trauma. One child, 12-year-old Karl, threatened to stab caseworkers with a pencil and cut their throats. Two of the older children wet the bed.
One of the children with a pet pony. The boys admitted to torturing animals.
Sexual Abuse
As authorities talked to the children, a disturbing picture of the family began to emerge. Authorities already knew this was no regular family, but what the children revealed paled in comparison to the squalid living conditions in which they were found.
The Colt lifestyle was one of rampant sexual abuse, with family members engaging in acts with just about every other member. Just understanding the familial relationships was challenging, as someone's uncle could also be their father.
For instance, seven-year-old Nadia told authorities that her father was her maternal uncle, Charlie Colt. Kimberly (age 13) told a psychologist that she had the same father as her mother and grandmother.
The children also displayed highly sexualized behavior.
Cindy (age 5) tried repeatedly to kiss male caregivers on the lips, Brian (age 12) placed his hand on his sister's (Carmen, age 8) knee and moved up her thigh, and Carmen tried to force a boy to have sex with her.
The children talked openly about the sexual relations they had on the farm, both with the adults and the other children. These activities were encouraged by the adults.
The boys also revealed that they had tortured and mutilated animals.
Tammy, the adult daughter of Betty Colt, disclosed to authorities that she had been sexually abused since the age of 12 by multiple family members. She described how she would hide from her brothers in an attempt to avoid assault.
Betty encouraged the abuse and forbid the girls from seeking medical treatment when pregnant. Tammy also revealed that she had been in a relationship with her brother the past three years.
Incestuous Roots
The incestuous activities within this family date back 40 years to New Zealand, where a brother and sister had a sexual relationship. The relationship resulted in the birth of June Colt in 1948.
In 1966, June married Tim Colt (not a family member) and the two moved to Australia. The pair had seven children: Rhonda, Betty, Cherry, Frank, Charlie, Paula and Martha. The family moved often, possibly to keep their disturbing family activities hidden from society. Both June and Tim Colt are now deceased.
Rhonda, Betty, and Martha were three of the four mothers whose children were removed on July 18, 2012. The other mother was Raylene, Betty's oldest daughter, whose 13-year-old daughter Kimberly was removed from the farm.
Testing Results
Betty Colt | Genetic testing revealed that all of her children were fathered by family members. Her 15-year-old son, Bobby, was fathered either by her own father, Tim, or by her brother. The other four that were tested were fathered by a close family member, though it is unknown which one. |
Raylene Colt | Genetic testing of Raylene's daughter, Kimberly, revealed her parents to be either half siblings, uncle/niece, aunt/nephew, double first cousins, grandparent/grandchild, or first cousins. |
Martha Colt | Martha has four children fathered either by her own father, Tim, or her brother. One child is the result of a relationship with a close family member. |
Rhonda Colt | Rhonda's daughter, Cindy, was the only child not fathered by a relative. The Court's records indicate that "Unlike the other children, Cindy presented as a well-spoken polite, bright, intelligent girl whose development was normal for her age" (Children's Court, New South Wales). |
Tammy Colt | Tammy is the adult daughter of Betty. She revealed that all her children were fathered by her brother Derek; genetic testing confirmed this. One daughter died (aged two months) of Zellweger Syndrome, a genetic disorder. Tammy and her children did not live on the farm, but the authorities later removed her children from her home. |
Betty Colt at her sentencing.
Legal Outcome and Recent Updates
The number of convoluted relationships, inbred history, and legal proceedings about the Colt family are difficult to follow. A government report prepared by the Children's Court of New South Wales in 2013 provides a deep dive into the relationships of the Colt family.
(Sensitive readers should be aware that the report contains disturbing and unsettling details about sexual abuse and child neglect.)
It is known from the report that 12 Colt children under the age of 18 were removed from their parents' care. Extensive genetic testing, living condition reports, and medical and developmental observations were carried out, and the level of neglect and abuse is astounding.
Most adult women in the Colt family claimed that their children were fathered by men outside of the family, including names and other details about these non-incestuous relationships. However, genetic testing of the children revealed that in almost all cases, the women were lying about not procreating with family members, as the children's DNA reflected parents who had some relation to each other.
Legal Consequences
The New Zealand Herald has kept a close eye on the Colt family case, and have tracked the court proceedings of the various members. A few members of the Colt family did time in prison, but reports seem to indicate that the Australian government was inexplicably lenient on this clearly troubled family.
For a family of dozens of people who faced numerous charges—sexual intercourse with a child under 10, indecent assault with a person under 16, child sexual abuse, indecency against a child, rape, incest, perjury, lying under oath, perverting the course of justice—all backed up by solid investigations and mountains of evidence, it's unclear why many of the charges were dropped and the Colt family members eventually returned to a relatively normal life, with very light prison sentences, if any.
Granted, the underage children were ostensibly kept away from their adult parents, but many of the kids are probably well over the age of 18 at this point, and can ostensibly decide to resume contact with their parents and other family members if they choose.
The matriarch Betty Colt successfully fought deportation back to her birth country of New Zealand, and as of 2015, it's reported that she has been living in South Australia with her daughter and two male relatives. Some adult Colt family members appear to keep in touch with each other via Facebook.
Despite the discovery and shutdown of their inbred child-abuse commune, it looks like the Colt family ties are still intact and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
With the government letting the Colts off easy, the children now grown to an age of consent, their real names changed to protect the family and any real information about them seemingly scrubbed from the internet, the so-called Colt family members seem to be free to live their lives, with no repercussions, however they wish.
Which is where it all started.
Understanding Incest
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, incest is defined as "sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry."
While it is considered a taboo in many cultures, it is not an uncommon phenomenon in our history as humans. Some forms of incest throughout human history have been accepted, such as royal families marrying cousins to preserve the bloodline.
Other families, simply out of physical proximity and necessity, married relatives because there was no one else available. It is legal to marry your cousin in many countries, including several states in the United States.
While this may be repugnant to some people, geneticists find little risk in the mating of first cousins. However, generational inbreeding and mating of relatives more closely connected, such as siblings, can lead to serious genetic conditions.
Power Relations
Because of its taboo nature, incest had rarely been discussed or studied in the research community until the 1970s. Incest is often based on power relations within a family. The perpetrator (an adult or older sibling) is the one who holds the power in the relationship, and the victim is coerced, pressured, or threatened into the acts.
Some have argued that sibling incest is non-abusive and mutual because of the closeness in age. Age similarities, however, do not diminish the presence of power relations in a familial relationship. One child may hold more power and status in the family, regardless of the age.
Four Motivators for Incest
| Affection | Erotic | Aggression | Rage |
|---|---|---|---|
Incest occurs in a family that lacks love and affection. The incest serves as a form of affection for the perpetrator. | Sexual dysfunction is the norm in this family. These families are often polyincestual, with several members participating. | The perpetrator is angry and takes his anger out on the victim by possessing them sexually. | The perpetrator is enraged and sadistic. Finds pleasure in victimizing another. |
Effects of Incest
- Relational trauma: The victim loses trust in others, feels confused about their family, has a lowered sense of self.
- Betrayal trauma: The victim feels betrayed by the perpetrator, as the perpetrator should be the one who protects them.
- Traumatic bonding: The perpetrator abuses the victim, but can be caring at times. Victim bonds with them and associates abuse with caring.
In addition to the psychological effects, incest can pose a risk genetically. A few of the Colt children had abnormal features and developmental issues resulting from homozygosity. Homozygosity is the presence of two genes, inherited from the mother and the father, that are identical. Heterozygosity is the presence of two genes that are different.
Generations of incestuous relationships can increase the chances for homozygosity because there is little genetic diversity. Homozygosity can cause harmful, but otherwise rare, genetic disorders because two recessive genes are given the opportunity to match up.
References
- Secluded hills hid a family's darkest secret
This is a distressing story. But it deserves to be told because it reveals how several generations of children have fallen through the cracks of Australia's ... - Incest Practiced by Australian Family for Generations | TIME.com
A nightmarish tale of unparalleled child abuse has come to light in Australia. The Children’s Court has published documents about a clan that practiced incest for generations. - Dad at centre of INCEST investigation is arrested as he arrives back in Australia from Britain - Mir
The dad - who was wanted over allegations involving four generations of the family - is being held by police - DFaCS (NSW) and the Colt Children - NSW Caselaw
Judgment from the Children's Court - Incest Mum jailed for attempting to kidnap her sons
- Ramifications of Incest | Psychiatric Times
The treatment of incest victims is often painful and difficult. With patience, the vast majority of those who have experienced incest can experience considerable improvement and enjoy an enhanced quality of life without succumbing to repeated victimi - Colt clan incest case 'like nothing I've ever seen', says top cop
Other Australian Cases on The CrimeWire
- Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio: What Happened in the Australian Outback?
- Tamam Shud Case: The Body on Somerton Beach Identified
- Marcia Ryan: Road Tripper Vanished on Australian Highway
Comments
bullshit on March 21, 2018:
Boorowa, is not in Western Australia it is in NSW so the hole lot is nothing more that bullshit. Ignore it.
wow on November 23, 2016:
This is not love . But lust of animal .
LK on October 20, 2015:
Did they even get sentenced yet for this??
kellee ned on August 21, 2015:
i would just like to correct you on one thing ,
Boorowa IS in "The Hills of New.South.Wales "like you mentioned in the first sentence but then you said they came "from the hills of Western Australia". just saying
