When Grandpa is also Daddy

February 12, 2009

The good doctor's daughter was born sometime in the 1960s, and had been given up for adoption soon afterward.  The doctor, uh, father, eventually met his daughter in 1991, and the two began having a sexual relationship.  The actions of the unholy union of this father and daughter from Australia is distasteful, to say the least, even to the most desensitized of minds.  It became even more distasteful when the daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a son in 1995, following their four-year sexual relationship.
 
The turn of events that led to the incestuous relationship began when the good doctor traveled to Great Britain to meet his long lost daughter.  They began having sex within 72 hours of their meeting, and the daughter soon relocated to Melbourne so that she could live with her father.  Did the fact that the father and daughter did not have a history as father and child make it okay to have sex?  Not by most people's standards.

"It was so overwhelming," the doctor reportedly said to a psychiatrist.  "The feelings were so strong.  I don't have any clear idea why.  Incest is abhorrent to me and (my daughter)."

One cannot help but wonder when the idea of having sex with his daughter became abhorrent -- early in the four-year relationship, or toward the end?  Come on now, Doc.  Just how abhorrent could it have been to you?  After all, the sexual relationship lasted for 4 years.  One also has to ask why a trained practitioner of the medical profession would not have considered the risks of birth defects to a child born out of an incestuous relationship, and if he had considered such risks, he had obviously paid them no heed.  Fortunately, the son/grandson has so far not shown any adverse physical effects, but it is not yet known whether he will suffer from psychological problems associated with possessing the knowledge that his father and his grandfather are one and the same.

The incestuous relationship was discovered during a family court proceeding that somehow involved another child of the doctor's, this one from a different relationship.  At one point information about the incestuous relationship surfaced and the doctor, who is now in his 60s, was charged with the crime of incest.  The doctor ended up pleading guilty to one count of incest and, in part because he has no prior criminal record, he was sentenced to a 12 month jail term, suspended.  His daughter was not charged with the crime, but she has since left Australia after trying to explain the bizarre relationship in a legal statement.

It seems likely that the doctor, whose medical practice involved seeing more than 150 patients per week at one point, will be allowed to continue practicing medicine.  The judge who heard the case said that the circumstances of the case were unique in that they were both adults when they finally met, and consenting adults at that, and that the crime of incest had nothing to do with the doctor's work.  However, a spokesperson for the Medical Practitioners Board said that the matter would be taken up and scheduled for a hearing.

In the meantime, one cannot also help wondering how the child refers to his father—"Daddy-Grandpa?"  Twisted.

Related Links:
MLK Confidant on Trial for Incest
Married Couple Turned Out To Be Twins!
Siblings Who Have Four Children Together Lose Incest Appeal
Father-Daughter Incest Couple Sentenced for Sexual Intercourse Resulting in Childbirth
Police Say Josef Fritzl Had Seven Children With Daughter He Held Captive For 24 Years

Photo Credit: iStock

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