Incest mum ‘tried to kidnap son’
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A NSW mother at the centre of inter-generational incest and child sex abuse claims is accused of hatching a plan to kidnap one of her 12 children from state care.
Twelve youths from the Colt family, a pseudonym provided by the NSW Children’s Court, were plucked from their squalid living conditions in southwest NSW in 2012 and put in out-of-home care.
Caseworkers and police visited their rural property at Boorowa, near Young, and found 40 adults and children living in dirty, rubbish littered tents and caravans.
According to the details in a Children’s Court judgment released last year, children on the property showed signs of neglect, lacked basic hygiene and oral health and had difficulty speaking.
Others did not know how to bathe or use toilet paper.
Some children later told caseworkers they had sex with their siblings and relatives, including brothers and uncles.
Genetic testing revealed 11 of the 12 children, aged between five and 15 had parents who were related or closely related, according to the judgement.
Half of the children removed by NSW Community Services were Betty Colt’s.
Ms Colt is accused of recruiting one of her sons to kidnap a younger son from foster care.
She is also charged with procuring a young person to be removed from state care.
Prosecutor Matt Zalunardo told a hearing on Monday Ms Colt was the “mastermind” of the escape plan.
Mr Zalunardo told Moss Vale Local Court there was evidence Ms Colt wanted to take her younger son to South Australia to work and provide money for her.
“The defendant does have the distinct ability to coerce the young person and in essence put her views onto them,” he said.
The plan was foiled after police intercepted the family’s phone conversations and intervened.
Ms Colt was allegedly heard telling her son she wanted to get him home and make it “f***ing hard” for authorities to get him back, the court heard.
Mr Zalunardo said in a conversation with his mother, Ms Colt’s son said: “They know who my father is, don’t they?”
Ms Colt replied: “No, they are bluffing”.
However, Ms Colt’s lawyer Philip Carey said the plan to flee foster care was in fact one of the son’s.
“And he was saying ‘I want to be with my mum’,” he told Moss Vale Court on Monday.
Ms Colt only facilitated the meeting time and place in her son’s scheme, Mr Carey submitted.
Magistrate Mary Ryan will deliver her judgment on September 12.