A Las Vegas man who was repeatedly raped by his own mother from when he was 10 fears his younger brother might actually be his own son.
Logan Gifford, 26, was frequently sexually assaulted by Doreene Gifford for six years from the age of 10 until he was 16.
The attacks only stopped when he reported his mother her to police.
He later testified against his mother who was sentenced in 2015 to 8-20 years behind bars over charges of attempted sex assault after taking a plea deal.
Gifford told a court that he had been exposed to drug use in his youth and detailed how his mother’s abuse first started. She has long claimed she is innocent.
He said that his mom brought him into a bedroom she shared with his father, Theodore, in which a pornographic video was playing, when she sexually assaulted him.
Gifford was left to help raise his younger siblings due to his mother’s heinous behavior, including his own brother, 15, who may also be his son.
The youngster, whose identity Gifford has withheld, struggles with cognitive difficulties. Children born as a result of incest are at a higher risk of genetic disorders and disabilities.
Speaking with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Gifford said that his sibling was born around the time of the sexual assaults, and that he believes he could be his father.
He told the outlet: ‘Look at the mess that I’m left with. I didn’t ask for any of this’.
Gifford is now seeking a paternity petition through the courts in Vegas to find out for sure if his own brother is actually his son.
His attorney Timothy Treffinger told the outlet that his mother has denied that Gifford is the father, and expressed a willingness to have a paternity test.
Gifford believes his brother could have been conceived around late 2008 when another instance of sexual abuse took place.
He also detailed to the outlet how he had grown up around child protective services, with his brother Liam dying at the age of 3 after drowning in a pool.
Other acts followed over the years until around 2014. His mom accepted a plea in the case of attempted assault sexual assault, and attempted lewdness with a child.
The plea she accepted is known as an Alford plea.
That sees a defendant concede only that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.
Her public defender said in a memorandum at the time of her sentencing that Gifford had animosity for his mom and that his version of events was littered with inconsistencies.
The note said that Doreene was brought up around abusive parents who were in and out of prison, an abusive foster system as a child, couple with an abusive marriage and later abusing crystal meth herself.
Gifford added: ‘I was a child when all of this happened and yet now I’m responsible for picking up the pieces of something that really is still continuing to have an impact in my life and dragging me to deal with that.
‘I feel that as though it is my obligation or my duty to (him) to do this and find out who his biological father really is.’
Gifford told the outlet that it was a therapist who raised the idea with him that he could be the father of his brother.
He added: ‘I was 17 at the time. That threw me for a loop.’
His younger brother receives a disability check and is now living with Gifford who currently has temporary guardianship.
The teenager had been living with Theodore until January when he started living with his elder sibling.
If it turns out that Gifford is the father, the ongoing court case will become a custody matter. If he is not the father it will still remain as a guardianship case.
According to his lawyer determining paternity is more of a challenge since the two brothers would both have Theodore’s DNA, whether or not Gifford is the father.
Gifford said: ‘To sit here and say that my brother may be the product of my sexual assault is a very visceral thing to think about as a male survivor.
‘But he’s here now. There’s no going back and undoing anything. And he deserves to have a quality of life where he’s comfortable, where he can be a kid.’
Doreene was released on parole last July but arrested in January after she violated a condition of her parole that she had no victim contact.
She is set to go before of a parole violation hearing in April, and according to state information is currently being held inside Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center.