Prenatal Paternity Testing Following Sexual Assault: A Novel Application of Forensic DNA Typing

A woman was sexually assaulted and subsequently learned that she was pregnant. She had consensual relations with her husband in the weeks preceding and following the assault, but could not exclude the possibility that the pregnancy resulted from the sexual assault. To resolve the issue of paternity, the DNA profiles of the victim and her husband were compared to that of a chorionic villus sample taken by biopsy at ∼ 11 weeks fetal gestation. The results were consistent with the victim's husband being the biological father of the fetus, with a genetic odds ratio in favour of paternity (P/) of 849 and 99.88% probability of paternity. This case demonstrates a novel application of forensic DNA typing to determine the paternity for pregnancies which may have resulted from sexual assault.