One of the world's most appalling cases of incest has been revealed by an Australian court that took the rare step of publishing the facts behind its decision to remove children from a cult found hiding in a valley southwest of Sydney.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting on the case of the Colt family (not their real name) which consists of four generations of relatives have been inbreeding for decades.

The cult was discovered last year when locals complained about children living in the nearby brush who were not attending school. When officers decided to check into it, they discovered 40 adults and children who were living in filthy makeshift sheds and tents with no sewers or running water. There were no toilets, showers, or baths and the children were unwashed and in dirty clothes. Few of the children were able to speak and almost all had fungal infections in their feet.

Upon closer inspection, officers discovered that some of the children had oddly formed features which were later found to be the result of "homozygosis" or identical gene patterns of both of the children's parents.  Some were developmentally delayed or cognitively impaired. They were all unschooled, had multiple health problems and no concept of hygiene.

"What they didn't realize was that the children were the result of intimate relations between brothers and sisters, and uncles and nieces and fathers and daughters. Their family threw back to a set of great-great grandparents who were a brother and sister," the Telegraph reports.

"The five family groups comprised of sisters, Rhonda, 47, Martha, 33, and Betty, 46, who slept every night with her brother, Charlie, and two of Betty's daughters who each had children who proved to be from unions of related parents."

Investigators soon discovered that Betty's son, Bobby Colt, 15, had a walking impairment, severe psoriasis and needed urgent dental work. His speech was not understandable and his learning ability was at the kindergarten level.

Another son, Billy, 14, was underweight and had both hearing and sight problems in addition to having an intellectual disability.

Her 12 year-old son, Brian, did not understand what it meant to take a shower, had decayed teeth and borderline normal hearing. His eyes were misaligned and he was unable to read or write.

Martha's children were no better off.  Her two sons, Albert, 15, and Jed, 14, also had speech problems as well as decaying teeth and poor personal hygiene.

Her nine-year-old daughter Ruth, who was neglected and malnourished, did not know how to use a toilet or toilet paper and was unable to bathe or dry herself. Her features were dysmorphic and her speech was described as being "fragmented and stunted."

However, it wasn't until the children were removed from the camp and underwent sessions with psychologists that the full extent of the incest became apparent. Their accounts of incestuous underage sex are said to fill pages of court documents.

Mouth swabs taken from the children led geneticists to deduce that five of the Colt children had parents who were "closely related" and another five had parents who were "related".

The adults revealed an even more astonishing tale.

"Betty, Martha and Rhonda's maternal grandparents had been brother and sister. Betty had 13 children, some of whom were probably fathered by her father, Tim, and her brother, Charlie. Martha's children may also have been fathered by Tim," the Telegraph reports.

Betty's daughter, Tammy, 27, had three children, all of them fathered by her brother Derek. One of these children died of a rare genetic disease called Zellweger syndrome.

"In the fallout from the discovery of the Colt Family, some children have been placed with foster families, others are in treatment programs for sexualized behavior and psychological trauma, and they have some contact with their parents and siblings," the Telegraph reports.

They have also made some progress with schooling and hygiene.

The mothers of these children have taken "varying degrees of responsibility" for the intra-familial sexual abuse that took place.

However, Betty is in denial and the Children's Court ruled that she is "incapable of addressing her own traumatic history".

The Australian court took the rare step of releasing the details because it felt the nation needed to know that one of the world's worst cases of incest had been discovered in their own backyard.

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