Jenny Deaves: Why we went public

However, there have been downsides. And we now wish to clarify misleading information in the media since our interview with 60 Minutes.

Death of our first born child:

We have never hidden the death of our son, Jackson, who was born in September 2001. He lived for 4 days and was not stillborn. Jackson died of Tetraology of Fallot (a congenital heart defect).

Many children each year are born to normal families with this problem.

John had a child to Joan McNamara (Jenny’s mother) who was born in 1966 and also died of this heart defect.

There is also another member of the family who had a child with this heart problem. It’s the male who carries the gene and not the female. So although John has it and I am his daughter, I do not carry the gene.

Jackson’s death has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that John and I are related.

Court proceedings:

There are many comments being made that John and I should be charged and thrown in jail. We have been through court proceedings and have been given a $500 three year good behaviour bond. The only stipulation on this bond is that we do not engage in sexual intercourse. We are abiding by this ruling.

The welfare of our children:

It’s been reported that our children are suffering as a result of our relationship and should be removed. How can someone say the children are at risk without meeting them, without actually knowing the family?

Our children were assessed by Families SA and the Child Protection Unit when we were arrested. They were found to be in no danger of physical, sexual or moral abuse. They were meant to be removed for a minimum of six weeks but instead were returned in three weeks.

Contact with each other during earlier years:

There has been a lot written about John and I having contact before we met in 2000. We have never denied that we had contact before we met in 2000 but this fact seems to have got lost in the media hype. We acknowledged to 60 Minutes that we had brief contact when I was a teenager.

I attended a family party to celebrate John’s marriage to Dorothy Deaves in 1984.

This was a one-day party at John’s brother's house. I then visited them for a brief holiday when they lived in South Australia and then again when they lived in Alice Springs. The holiday to Alice Springs was taken with my ex-husband Raymond. During this time there was also occasional letters back and forth.

The portrayal by certain media that we ‘knew’ each other is incorrect as these were only brief holidays with no father/daughter bonding. This lack of father/daughter bonding has been reinforced by my mother, Joan McNamara who states:

“But he was never a father figure to her at all.......she never bonded with him.”

We also want to point out that no physical relationship occurred between us till the year 2000.

The Future:

We have gone public with our story in order to bring awareness within society of Genetic Sexual Attraction. We are currently planning a genetic sexual attraction foundation in order to promote research on GSA and to offer support to those that experience GSA.

We do plan to move on from Mount Gambier, not because we are trying to hide from anyone or anything but because of the fact our car was vandalised. People obviously know where we live and they could do this sort of thing again. Hopefully not again, but you never know.