KEY POINTS:
A woman who went to Britain to find her biological father has been committed for trial on allegations she developed an incestuous relationship with him.
The 40-year-old woman - and the 59-year-old man, who now lives in New Zealand - are accused of incest between March 1997 and
April 11 last year, when police raided their Auckland home.
In documents handed to a depositions hearing in Auckland yesterday, a forensic scientist who carried out DNA tests on the pair put the chances of the man being the woman's biological father at 100 times higher than for any other male, unrelated to the man, and chosen at random from the New Zealand population.
A former nanny who worked for the couple says in her statement: "I know they were definitely in a sexual relationship from what [the daughter] told me, my observations of her, and mannerisms towards each other and their sleeping arrangements."
The statement alleges the couple kept large and small bedrooms."The door of the small bedroom was always locked."
The nanny alleges the man was supposed to use the small bedroom, but never did.
She alleges laundry left on the bed in the small room went unmoved, while much of the man's clothing hung in the woman's wardrobe.
Court files also contain evidence from family members, including the woman's adopted brother, who claims his sister told him she had "feelings for a family member" after returning from Britain in the late 1990s.
"I felt a bit suspicious at first, because I thought it was me," the brother says in his statement.
However, she allegedly told him later that she had slept with the man.
She returned to Britain briefly, before returning to New Zealand with the man in tow, the brother says.
"I told them the sex had to stop. It was obvious as they were always touching and kissing each other." He allegedly also confronted the man, who refused to end the relationship.
Detective Joanna Chalmers, one of the officers who raided the couple's home, alleges the man admitted sharing a bed with the woman, but when asked if he believed the pair were biologically related, replied: "I seriously doubt it."
The woman allegedly told Detective Constable Damian Espinosa the couple's relationship had developed from "a close friendship".
When questioned about any sexual relationship, the woman allegedly replied: "I don't really want to answer that ... I'm a mature woman. It's my choice, isn't it?"
She allegedly later told Mr Espinosa she did not believe she and the man were father and daughter.
The pair maintained not guilty pleas to the charges at yesterday's hearing, and are on bail to a call-over in May. The issue of continued name suppression is to be argued then. Bail conditions specify they live at separate addresses.