(Jamaica Gleaner) A DNA test has revealed that prominent Montego Bay businessman Patrick Chung is not the biological father of a woman who has accused him of allegedly having sex with her over a nine-year period beginning in 1976 when she was 13 years old.
This finding follows an application by the prosecution in the St James Circuit Court in April requesting a non-intimate DNA sample from Chung to determine the relation between him and the woman.
The prosecution was not previously able to request a DNA sample as Chung had brought the matter to the Constitutional Court in February 2016, the same month the DNA Evidence Act received the governor general’s assent.
CHARGES
Chung is charged with six counts of incest and five counts of indecent touching in relation to the allegations.
He was charged in April 2012, six months after the 49-year-old woman claiming to be his daughter, made a formal report to the police. She was adopted.
She alleges that between January 1, 1976, and December 31, 1985, Chung had sex with her at the family home in Montego Bay, St James, in a room located above the supermarket he operated in the resort town and in Canada while she was away studying.
Chung was attempting to have the charges stayed on the basis that the 34-year wait to have his day in court would prejudice, or is likely to prejudice, his right to a fair trial within a reasonable time under the Jamaican Constitution.
However, the Constitutional Court ruled that he must stand trial by the end of the year.