A judge has ruled supporting the claim that John Banks is Antony Shaw’s father. Banks had refused to acknowledge fatherhood, refused a DNA test, and did not take part in the court proceedings – if he wanted to keep this sad case a secret he should have considered what is known as the Streisand Effect.
Introduction
[1] As a child Antony Brett Shaw believed his father to be Chinese, even though he does not have Chinese features and the man his mother named played no part in his upbringing. When Mr Shaw was 29 years old his mother told him that his father was actually John Archibald Banks, a man with whom she had an intimate relationship at the time Mr Shaw was conceived.
[2] Mr Shaw is now aged 47 and lives permanently in Japan with his wife and son. He has applied under s 10 of the Status of Children Act 1969 (SoCA) for a declaration that Mr Banks is his father. Mr Banks took no steps in the proceeding and the application proceeded by way of a formal proof hearing.
Evidence relied on to prove paternity
Relationship between Mr Banks and Mrs Mayes: 1966 – 1974
[10] Between 1966 and 1969 Mrs Mayes was working as a nurse at Waikato Hospital. For some of that period she lived in the nurses’ home and for some of the time with her parents in Hamilton. She met Mr Banks at a party when she was 19. He was working as a travelling salesman for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Mrs Mayes’ brother, Bernard Shaw, recalls Mrs Mayes going out regularly with Mr Banks and that the relationship appeared to him as that of boyfriend and girlfriend.
[11] Mrs Mayes described spending a night with Mr Banks at a motel opposite the Te Rapa Racecourse in July 1969. They had sexual intercourse. Mrs Mayes says that she was seeing only Mr Banks at that time. She had previously been taking the oral contraceptive pill but had recently stopped taking it on medical advice after developing a pain in her calf. She subsequently found that she was pregnant.
[12] Mrs Mayes makes serious allegations against Mr Banks about what happened next. She says that when told of the pregnancy Mr Banks encouraged her to terminate it and arranged for a friend who worked for another pharmaceutical company to obtain quinine tablets in the hope of causing a miscarriage. She describes an occasion when both Mr Banks and his friend were present and told her how many tablets to take. Mrs Mayes was scared, however, and despite pressure from Mr Banks, refused to take the pills.
[13] Mrs Mayes commenced a brief relationship with a local Hamilton man, Harry Wong, knowing that she was some months’ pregnant. She allowed him to believe that the child was his. The relationship ended before Mr Shaw was born. However, Mr Wong (apparently under pressure from Mrs Mayes’ family) accepted that he was the father and agreed to pay child support of $5 a week, which he did for 15 years.
This deceit was tough on Mr Wong.
[14] Mrs Mayes went to a home for unmarried mothers in Auckland for the birth of her baby. Although she had allowed Mr Wong to take financial responsibility for the baby, she drew the line at entering false details on the birth certificate. No information about Mr Shaw’s father is recorded on his birth certificate.
The relationship with Mr Banks is rekindled: 1971 – 1973
[16] The relationship between Mrs Mayes and Mr Banks resumed…Mrs Mayes says that during this period Mr Banks acknowledged that he was Mr Shaw’s father.
Mrs Mayes raises the issue of paternity with Mr Banks: 1997 – 2000
[19] The first was the birth of Mr Shaw’s own son, Kent…She contacted Mr Banks when she was in Wellington and they had dinner together. She told him about Kent and showed him photographs of Kent and Mr Shaw. Mr Banks said that Mr Shaw looked like him (Mr Banks).
[20] The second event was in 1999. Mr Banks, who had been a Member of Parliament for some 18 years, was retiring that year. Mrs Mayes saw TV footage of his valedictory speech, delivered on 5 October 1999. The Hansard record of the speech confirms Mrs Mayes’ recollection of Mr Banks speaking of “the crushing heartache” of living without a mother and father. Mrs Mayes’ impression was that Mr Banks had been so upset that he was close to tears. She decided then that she should tell Mr Shaw about Mr Banks being his father
There were attempts after that to contact Banks, but a lack of success led to seeking a ruling from the Court.
Proof on the balance of probabilities?
[29] Mr Shaw’s application rests to a large extent upon Mrs Mayes’ evidence. On her own account, Mrs Mayes has not always been honest. However, there is independent support for the essential elements of her account. My assessment of the evidence is as follows.
[30] First, I accept that Mrs Mayes was in a sexual relationship with Mr Banks in 1969. Her assertion is consistent with Mr Shaw snr’s description of them as boyfriend and girlfriend and his evidence of Mr Banks’ acknowledgement that there had been a sexual relationship between them. I also accept that the relationship was exclusive, at least for Mrs Mayes. She says that she was not seeing anyone else and Mr Shaw snr does not mention anyone else. Moreover, it is reasonable to infer that if there had been the possibility of another man being the father Mrs Mayes would have named him as the father rather than starting a new relationship with a Chinese man, a plan that had obvious pitfalls.
[31] Secondly, it is not credible to think that Mr Wong is Mr Shaw’s father. It is true that he accepted Mr Shaw as his child and paid child support for 15 years. But he is not recorded on Mr Shaw’s birth certificate as the father and played no part in his life, despite contributing financially. The fact that he is not named on the birth certificate is consistent with Mrs Mayes’ account that, notwithstanding her earlier dishonesty on the point, she was not willing to go so far as to make a false statement on the birth certificate.
[32] Thirdly, not only does Mr Shaw not have the appearance of having a Chinese father, his uncle has deposed to the physical likeness of Mr Shaw to Mr Banks, which he describes as “striking”. This is, of course, a matter of impression but I accept that there is a high degree of similarity between the photographs of the two.
Antony Shaw (left) and John Banks
[33] Fourthly, I accept that Mr Banks and Mrs Mayes resumed their relationship for a time when Mr Shaw was a very young child and that during that time Mr Banks acknowledged that he was Mr Shaw’s father. Although there is no independent evidence of this acknowledgement, in assessing it I take into account the fact that Mr Banks has chosen not to give evidence refuting the allegation.
[34] Finally, I am satisfied from the evidence that Mr Banks has been invited by Mrs Mayes to undergo a DNA test for the purposes of establishing paternity. On Mr Shaw snr’s evidence Mr Banks declined to do so, on legal advice. In considering the weight I give to Mr Banks’ refusal, I take that into account. However, given all of the other surrounding circumstances, including his failure to take any steps at all to refute the various allegations and the obvious strength of Mr Shaw’s application, it is proper to infer from Mr Banks’ refusal to undergo a DNA test that, in his view, the result would be supportive of Mr Shaw’s claim.
Result
[35] I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Mr Banks is Mr Shaw’s father. I therefore make the declaration sought, that John Archibald Banks is the father of Antony Brett Shaw.
This is a very sad case. If as it appears from the evidence and the ruling that Banks is the father it is difficult to understand his refusal to acknowledge being the father, especially given his valedictory speech in Parliament.
Full ruling: Shaw v Banks
From Banks’ valedictory speech in 1999:
No one knows better than I the crushing heartache of living with no mother and no father. When my father was due to be released from Mount Crawford, I was living in Kaitoke with Allan McCready. What a good man to me he was; what a wonderful New Zealander. I would have been 12 years of age.
I was told: “Your father is coming to visit you tomorrow.” I was absolutely delighted. I could not remember meeting my father. I was going to be so proud that I could show off my father to the other kids. “This is my father. He may even bring my mother. He’s coming tomorrow because he said he was coming tomorrow. If my father said he was coming tomorrow, he would be here tomorrow.”
At 6 o’clock in the morning I got up and sat at the front gate waiting for him to come. I did not know what time he was going to come, but some time in the morning he was going to come, or maybe some time in the afternoon. At 8 o’clock at night I was still at the front gate and he did not turn up. I waited two more years. These things have an incredible influence on one’s life.