Denia ‘heiresses’ appeal DNA bid rejection

DENIA resident Amparo Dominguez Arcos and her two sisters, Dolores and Ana are not giving up their case and have appealed to the Supreme Court with regards to their paternity case. The Pontevedra Provincial Court rejected their request for DNA testing to determine if they are the granddaughters of millionaire Jose Benito Torres Bouzas who died in Argentina in 1954.

Prior to emigrating to Argentina from Meis (near Pontevedra), Torres Bouzas apparently fathered an illegitamate son, Nemiso Martinez, the father of the three claimants, shoe lawyer claimed that the reason he never acknowledged his son was due to the “social norms of the time.”

He later remarried, but died childless, willing his estate to his disabled godson for ‘the duration of his life’.

The godson has since died and the estate – which consists of 62 farms in Meis and is valued at around €10 million – is being managed by his family.

Amparo believes they could be Torres Bouzas granddaughters due to a hereditary illness they share as well as village talk at the time of their father’s birth.

To prove their claim the DNA of a second uncle, Nemes Martinez, the only living relative of Torres Bauza, has been requested to be compared with that of Dominquez who died in 1971.

The sister’s lawyer, Fernando Osuna, stated that their “fundamental rights” were not being “respected” by not allowing this testing.

Once their initial ‘legal status’ as granddaughters has been asserted they intend to file a second lawsuit to claim “all assets” of Torres Bauza.

If this does not work then they say they will go to the Constitutional Court and even the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

By Nicole Hallett