Jennifer Anne Deaves

On April 6, 2008, Australia's Channel Nine reported on the 60 Minutes program that Jennifer Anne Deaves, 39, and her father John, 61, both of South Australia, had each been convicted in March of two counts of incest, after having conceived two children in a consensual relationship.

Fast Facts

1. Gave birth to two children by her father, John Deaves¹
2. Arrested in 2007¹
3. Stayed with her father and his ex-wife four times before their marriage ended²
4. First child, Jackson, died of congenital heart disease in 2001³
5. Second child was nine months old as of April 7, 2008²
6. Arrested in 2007¹
7. John Deaves ex-wife denies that he and his daughter were apart for 30 years²
8. Pled guilty on two counts of incestuous act²
9. Found guilty of incest
10. Sentenced to 3-year good behavior bond²
11. Being monitored by police²

Backstory

Before they became a couple, the two had been estranged since Jennifer's infancy. At the age of 31, she reunited with her father, beginning a sexual relationship with him just two weeks after their reunion. Both were married at the time, and both ended their marriages shortly after meeting.⁴

Children

Though it was originally reported that the pair has had one child, a daughter named Celeste, court documents revealed that a previous child died of a congenital disease soon after birth.² Later interviews with John Deaves' ex-wife Dorothy showed that, contrary to their testimony, the father-daughter couple had had contact numerous times before they began their adulterous relationship.²

Controversy

A Channel Nine report, available online, includes an interview with the couple, along with footage of their daughter. The program earned the network 1.5 million viewers, the highest ratings in that time slot.⁴ On April 9, The Brisbane Times reported that Channel Nine, who had paid the couple for the interview, was under police investigation regarding an Australian law that criminals are not allowed to profit from their crimes.⁵

Quotes from TV Interview

"It's everybody else out there in society that has the problem, we don't have the problem." —Jennifer Deaves⁶

"I was looking at him, sort of going, oh, he's not too bad...like you might look at a man across the bar at a nightclub." —Jennifer Deaves⁶

"We are just asking for a little bit of respect and understanding." —Jennifer Deaves⁶

"We don't see each other as father and daughter. I don't see John as my father, even though he is my biological father." —Jennifer Deaves⁶

"I met Jennifer and I realized she was a beautiful, desirable woman." —John Deaves⁶

"Of course I knew it was illegal, but you know, so what." —John Deaves⁶

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