My knowledge on this case is pretty basic. I'm gonna say they may have thought they were abused. It depends on personal opinion I guess. I think their lawyers played on it just to try and lessen their sentence.
I don't think their case was very strong, as people who knew José and Kitty frequently deny such claims. Of course anything can happen behind closed doors, they say they're remorseful now, more like remorseful they got caught. It didn't take them very long to start spending their parents cash..