Cliff Colt to walk free after all child incest charges dropped
Prosecutors have now withdrawn all charges against one member of a notorious NSW family accused of incest and horrific child sex abuse, while more charges have been withdrawn against another member.
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- ‘My aunts, uncles, cousins have been sleeping together’
- 48 charges dropped against Colt incest family
Prosecutors have dropped all charges against a member of a notorious NSW family accused of horrific incest spanning generations, and he will now walk free from custody.
Cliff Colt, a pseudonym, was arrested in April 2018, nearly six years after police found 40 relatives living in squalor on an isolated southern NSW farm and removed inbred kids who were severely malnourished and illiterate.
On Thursday the Crown withdrew the four remaining charges against Cliff Colt, including sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14 and indecent assault of a child aged under 16.
The 38-year-old and Charlie Colt were due to face a joint trial this week but on Thursday four identical counts were also discharged against Charlie.
Cliff has no further charges pending after 48 offences against him, Charlie and Frank Colt were abandoned on the eve of their trial earlier this month.
Charlie will now face a judge-alone trial for his two remaining charges; inciting sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10 and indecent assault against a child aged under 16.
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That matter will return to court on Friday, and in August Charlie and Cliff will apply for the Crown to pay their legal fees over the withdrawn joint trial charges.
To be successful they will need to prove it was not reasonable for the prosecution to be brought against them in the first place.
On Tuesday Frank was found guilty of raping his teenage niece Petra Colt in 2010, and he will be sentenced at Downing Centre District Court in August.
Frank’s victim gave tearful evidence that the 51-year-old threw her headfirst into the back seat of his car and raped her before calling her an “ungrateful b****.”
After withdrawing 12 charges against Frank, the detective leading Australia’s largest incest investigation said it was an oversight that alibi evidence placing him in Western Australia during the time of an alleged child sex crime in NSW was not served until days before his trial.
Prosecutors had already abandoned 16 charges against Cliff on June 2, including three counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10 and inciting sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10.
A total of 20 charges were dropped against Charlie on June 2, including three of his four counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10.