Outrage at father and daughter's baby together

 

Outrage at father and daughter's baby together
· Incestuous couple go public in plea for tolerance
· Police and social services monitor family
• Barbara McMahon in Sydney
• The Guardian, Tuesday April 8 2008
An Australian father and daughter who have conceived an apparently healthy child are being monitored by police and social services after going public about their incestuous relationship.
John Deaves, 61, and his daughter Jenny, 39, say they want to be treated as an ordinary couple despite being biologically related, but their case has sparked outrage. It has been revealed in court documents that their previous child died from a congenital heart defect a few days after birth.
The couple, who have pleaded guilty to incest and been banned by a judge from having sexual contact, appeared on a television news show in Australia to tell their story. They were shown with their nine-month-old daughter Celeste, who they said was fit and well.
"John and I are in this relationship as consenting adults," Ms Deaves told the Nine Network. "We are just asking for a little bit of respect and understanding."
Mr Deaves was married to his daughter's mother 40 years ago but she divorced him while he was in prison for armed robbery. Ms Deaves did not see her father again until eight years ago when she was married and had two children.
She said there was an immediate physical attraction between them and that two weeks after meeting the couple had sex. Ms Deaves described the relationship with her father as being like "a sexual relationship with any other man".
Her father, who was also married at the time, admitted on television that initially he thought the relationship was wrong. "I knew it was illegal, of course I knew it was illegal, but so what?" he said. "Emotions take over."
The couple, who both left their spouses and moved together to South Australia, were investigated by the Department of Families and Communities and both made full admissions when questioned by police.
Last month a judge acknowledged their relationship was a "mutually consensual union" and said they could still see each other but that they would be placed on a good behaviour bond and were banned from having sex. He said during sentencing he took into account the high risk of congenital defects of children born from incestuous relationships and the psychological harm that could be caused to children of such families.
There have been calls, however, for the couple's young daughter and Ms Deaves' two other children, who are living with them, to be put in care.
Mr Deaves' former wife Dorothy, whom he left for his daughter, has also disputed claims that the two were strangers to each other and said Ms Deaves attended their wedding when she was 15.
Psychologists say biologically related people can experience "genetic sexual attraction" but incest is taboo in most countries because of the health risks to children born of such unions.
A German brother and sister are currently fighting for the right to continue their sexual relationship and are challenging incest laws. They have four children together, three of whom are in foster care. Patrick Stübing faces imprisonment if he resumes a sexual relationship with his sister Susan.
• guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/08/australia/print