Hughes is Wathey’s son,
DNA test concludes
PHILIPSBURG--DNA lab results, released on Wednesday in the Netherlands, have proven that the certainty is “extremely high” that Stanley Leopold Hughes is the biological son of the late Norman Chester Wathey.
According to the lab in the Netherlands that tested saliva samples of Hughes, Wathey’s four daughters and his late wife, the possibility that Hughes is the half-brother of the Wathey sisters is 16,000 times greater than that he is a relative.
That, the lab stated in its report, is a “very strong indication” that the 54-year-old Hughes is Wathey’s biological son. The qualification “very strong indication” is the one before the highest, which is “extreme strong indication.” Hughes said that if his mother had participated, the test most probably would have scored highest.
The Appeal Court in St. Maarten will deal with the DNA results as early as September 9, said Hughes. He said he would await the court’s decision.
His first response to the test results: “It took a long time and it was unfortunate that I had to go through something that everybody already knows, that I am the son of Norman Chester Wathey. It is a fact, a reality, no more hearsay.”
The DNA test was ordered by the Court in an injunction filed by the Wathey heirs in an effort to stop Hughes’ from exhuming Wathey’s body to attain DNA material for testing. An earlier Court had granted Hughes permission to exhume Wathey’s body as a last resort to prove that he was the deceased’s biological son.
“I went along with them and we came to a better solution to have our saliva tested, using live evidence. I am happy that my father can continue his rest without being disturbed,” he told The Daily Herald.
Hughes said that while he would “try to defend his interests and rights as much as possible,” he also wanted to come to an “amicable solution” with Watheys. “I am not looking for a fight. They are family, after all. I’m looking to be included. I want to leave this behind. I am ready to talk to them anytime. I love my sisters,” he said.
Hughes thanked his supporters and his mother Hyacinth Jacobs of Cole Bay for believing in the struggle he has been fighting for years.
When contacted for comment, the Wathey family indicated they didn’t want to respond, for reasons of privacy.
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