SA: SA pair shock with their tale of incestuous love

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2008
SA: SA pair shock with their tale of incestuous love

By Liza Kappelle

ADELAIDE, April 10 AAP - The many wives of John Ernest Deaves are not the only people
shocked by his fathering girls with his oldest daughter.

The 61-year-old disability pensioner with a bad back, diabetes, depression, mild heart
disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a number of convictions doesn't appear
much of a stud.

But the one-time armed robber had a slew of wives before he ditched number three in
2000, for "fantastic" sex with his oldest daughter, Jennifer Anne Deaves, 39.

The couple revealed their passion for each other on the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program
last Sunday, saying they were just asking for some respect and understanding.

They met as adults - having rarely seen each after Jenny's mother divorced him while
Jenny was three, and Deaves was in jail.

Jenny said she quickly realised she saw Deaves as a man first and a father second.

"I was looking at him, sort of going, 'Oh, he's not too bad'," she told the Nine Network.

"Like you might look at a man across the bar at a nightclub.

"John and I are in this relationship as consenting adults.

"We are normal, intellectual adults who have fallen in love with each other."

Deaves admitted he "initially" thought having sex with his daughter was wrong, but
"emotions took over".

"I realised she was a beautiful, desirable woman," Deaves said.

"I knew it was illegal, of course I knew, but you know, so what."

The sex was "fantastic, absolutely fantastic", he added.

John and Jenny have had two daughters together.

The first died just days after birth in 2001 of congenital heart disease. Their second,
Celeste, is a healthy baby who was born in May 2007.

They now live in Mt Gambier in South Australia's south-east with Celeste and Jenny's
two children from her former marriage.

But they are no longer having sex.

They can't.

Police caught up with them and they were placed on three-year good behaviour bonds
last month after pleading guilty in the District Court in Mt Gambier to two counts of
incest.

Sentencing Judge Steven Millsteed said while their relationship was consensual, incest
could harm the children.

"You say that although you are father and daughter, that you were virtually strangers
when your relationship commenced and that the relationship was based on mutual love and
respect," he said.

"(But) the offence of incest exists not merely to protect children from sexual abuse.

"Other relevant factors include: the need to prevent the high risk of congenital defects
of children born of incestuous relationships.

"And to prevent children, who are brought up in a family unit founded on an incestuous
relationship, suffering psychological harm and social stigmatisation. Those factors assume
significance in this case."

After divorcing Jenny's mother, Deaves married again, had a second daughter, divorced,
and in 1984 he married Dorothy - the woman he dumped for his daughter.

Now living alone at their SA wildlife sanctuary, Rootopia, Dorothy says all Deaves
ex-wives, and his second daughter, were "devastated" about the affair.

"It's just awful ... I worry about the children," she said.

They're not alone.

The couple might have asked for respect and understanding, but their tale has shocked
people, with bloggers around the world commenting on their case and some calling for the
"creepy" pair's daughter to be "saved".

Dorothy says it took her ages to get over learning about their sexual relationship
in 2000 - after Deaves had gone with his daughter to Dubbo Zoo.

"I thought he had gone to console her, because of her marriage trouble, I didn't think
they would have sex," she said this week.

"When they got back here he informed me it was the best sex he ever had!

"If that doesn't degrade you I don't know what does. It is just awful.

"It was my second marriage, and you feel like ... well, you get a very poor opinion of yourself."

Dorothy says its not true the pair had no contact until 2000.

"He definitely had contact with Jenny when he was married to Pam (his second wife),
and she stayed with us for a week when we got married - until 2000 she stayed with us
four times."

SA Police are reportedly monitoring them.

And they are now investigating the convicted pair again, this time over an alleged
payment to them by the Nine Network.

Under state law, convicted criminals cannot profit directly from their crime.

Hamish Thomson, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, says money was offered to the couple.

"We bought them some clothes and they might have to move town and we have offered to
give them some money to cover the costs of their move, if that happens," he told News
Ltd this week.

"We bought them some clothes because they are very poor.

"We literally bought them clothes for filming, from Target."

AAP lk/sl/it/de

KEYWORD: DEAVES (AAP NEWSFEATURE) (FILE PIX AVAIL)

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