WOMAN DISPUTES DNA RESULTS, DEMANDS MAINTENANCE

 A Bulawayo woman was exposed as a paternity cheat after results of a DNA test showed that the child was not fathered by the man who she claimed was her daughter’s dad.

The bombshell came to light when Nkosilathi Ndlovu, a lecturer at Gwanda State University, who was disputing having a love-child with his ex-lover, Breater Gertrude Tayengwa Muvirimi, went for paternity tests at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Applied Genetics Testing Centre.

The Nust DNA lab has been operational since 2015 and it previously said 70 percent of paternity tests conducted at the lab had exposed some women as cheats.

Muvirimi from Entumbane suburb was demanding $6 680 from Ndlovu as monthly upkeep for her one-year and 11 months old daughter.

“In terms of the Maintenace Act (Chapter 5:09) I’m seeking to claim maintenance from the respondent Nkosilathi Ndlovu. I’m applying for maintenance in the sum of $6 680 for a child aged one-year and 11 months. I need money for rent, clothing and food. He is the father of the child and is legally liable to maintain as he is employed as a lecturer at Gwanda State University and earns $40 000 per month,” said Muvirimi.

Muvirimi claimed she was unable to cope with the financial demands associated with looking after the child since she was not employed. “I am not working and I do part time jobs and getting 100 rand per day,” she claimed.

In response Ndlovu dismissed Muvirimi’s application saying he was not legally liable to maintain the child who was not his.

“We did DNA tests and I discovered that the child was not biologically mine,” said Ndlovu while tendering the DNA results.

The results read in part: “The alleged father Mr Nkosilathi Ndlovu is excluded as the biological father of the child.

“The conclusion is based on the non-matching alleles observed at the loci listed above with likelihood ration equal to zero. The alleged father lacks the genetic markers that must be contributed to the child by the biological father. The probability of paternity is 0%”.

Muvirimi however, disputed the results saying she was not present when they were released.

“I was not there when the results were out, so I don’t think they were done properly. I was surprised when police served me with the copy of the DNA results,” she said.

In her ruling presiding magistrate Nomsa Ncube dismissed her claims saying the respondent has produced a paternity test result which showed that the probability of his paternity was zero percent.

Meanwhile, this claim around paternity discrepancy/fraud is not a new one in Zimbabwe. It has been reported before that more than 70 percent of Zimbabwean men may be taking care of children who are not theirs as cases of paternity fraud continue to soar in the country where mothers deliberately misidentify the biological father of the child. B Metro

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