To everyone currently residing in Australia, you might have known by now who these two people are. To the uninitiated, however, let me give you a run-down on their story first:

Meet John and Jenny Deaves. He is 61, she 39. They have been a couple for 8 years running, had a son, Jackson, in 2001, who died just days after he was born with Tetralogy of Fallot (ie: a congenital heart defect), and a healthy daughter, Celeste, who is currently 9 months old. They are pretty much contended with what they have at the moment - a seemingly happy family on the outside. There is a twist to their story though - John is Jenny's BIOLOGICAL father.

I kid you not. John Deaves separated from Jenny's mother when she was just a year old. Jenny had little contact with her father over the next 30 years....right until 8 years ago, when she decided to "track him down". Both met, and two weeks down the line they began a sexual relationship. As mentioned earlier, John fathered two of Jenny's children, one of them is currently 9 months old.

Their story was made public on the 9th April, when it was aired on Channel Nine's 60 minutes.

"John and I are in this relationship as consenting adults. We are just asking for a little bit of respect and understanding..." (Jenny Deaves)

"John is my father and he's also my partner. 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...." (Jenny Deaves)

"I class myself as a man who has met a woman and we got romantically involved...." (John Deaves)

"The way I look at it, it's just like if I was married to Jennifer and she was not my biological daughter and we had a child. It's exactly the same thing. The child is not deformed. It had no mental difficulties. Quite normal, healthy child...." (John Deaves)

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When I first realized what was unravelling before me (on Herald Sun - I haven't the time to watch proper TV programmes in the last few weeks), I was shell-shocked. Then came disgust, rage and pity.

I was stunned by the fact that these two people would consent to a sexual relationship, knowing very well that they are biologically related.

I felt sick to the core whenever I think of them sharing the same bed.

I was aghast that they (still) think it was okay for them to do so.

I was enraged by the fact that Celeste and Jenny's two other children (from her previous marriage) were all aired on this programme.

I was not happy with the way Channel Nine handled this story - based on their transcripts, I was under the impression that they were "normalizing" the situation.

My heart goes out to those who were hurt by these two incredibly selfish individuals - Jenny's mother, John's 2nd wife and the children he fathered from his 2nd marriage, Jenny's ex-husband and the two children she bore from this union, and especially Celeste....who will bear the brunt of this incestuous relationship in years to come.

Some links to this scandal:

Forbidden Love, from 60 minutes

Incest began 'on business trip', from Herald Sun

Deaves incest couple say: Don't blame us, from Daily Telegraph

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