Warning: This article contains graphic details that may disturb some readers.
An Australian court has learned about the lengths the incestuous "Colt Clan" has gone to in order to evade arrest for child abuse and inbreeding.
The family has become infamous in Australia after they were in discovered in 2013 living in squalid conditions, several of them with birth defects due to inbreeding, News.com.au reports.
Eight members of the family, including three "matriarchs", were arrested in April and their children have been placed in care.
Prosecutors told Central Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday the children were vulnerable to members of their family, who often tried to coerce them to return to them.
"The children and young adults have cognitive or physical disabilities related to their genetics which makes them extremely vulnerable to coercion to go back to the family," prosecutor Mardi Cartwright said.
Family members went to great lengths to prevent the children from giving evidence to authorities and several of the children have run away from state care.
Rhonda Colt, one of three matriarchs, appeared in court on Tuesday for a bail hearing, but she was denied due to risks she could contact her children or run away.
Colt wept as bail was refused.
The clan is believed to have inbred for four generations, beginning in New Zealand with brother and sister couple Tim and June Colt.
The siblings emigrated from New Zealand to Australia in 1970 and the family eventually grew to 38 members living in the bush.
Police began investigating the family after a child at the local primary school was overheard saying her sister was pregnant, but she didn't know which one of her brothers was the father.
Colt is a court appointed pseudonym used for the family to protect the identities of the children.
Newshub.
