A NUH PUZZLE DIS A SHAME

Twenty-six-year-old Janice Brown* and 35-year-old Steve Williams* can laugh at themselves now that they have both moved on with their lives. However, some eight years ago, when Janice became pregnant with her first child, it was no joke.

Both are from St Catherine, Janice is unemployed and Steve is a machine operator. He claims that it is compulsory for him to have doubts about this child because he had no idea about Janice’s pregnancy and only found out about the child when he was five years old.

She said: We met back in 2002 as we were living in the same comm-unity and we were part of the same youth club, so we were first friends before we became lovers.

He said: It was a fairly good relationship, we didn’t fight or anything like that, but I was forced to see other people because her parents were very strict and she couldn’t really go anywhere.

She said: People started telling me that he was seeing other girls but I was just in denial and so I ended the relationship, knowing that I was pregnant.

He said: All this time I didn’t know what was taking place, I just know that I never used to see her around.

She said: When I was seven months pregnant I went to live with my grandfather in Clarendon and still nobody didn’t really know that I was pregnant, and I didn’t really want my parents to find out either. People who saw me couldn’t tell I was pregnant because dem probably think seh a fat mi fat and not pregnant.

Janice further explained that she moved to the country because she was very upset that Steve was seeing other girls.

He said: Everything was kept a secret all this time until I started hearing rumours here and there that it is my child and how much di child look like me. It was her mother who contacted me and told me that the child is mine and Janice did a keep it a secret all this time. So from that now I started visiting the child and him really look like me, but I want this DNA test to confirm this thing.

Steve further explained that he really wants to do the DNA test as three years ago he thought he had a little girl until the mother of his girlfriend at the time called to say that child wasn’t his. That case is still pending.

She said: My son is now seven years old and he is still not registered; but I am 100 per cent sure that it is Steve’s son because he looks like him and behaves like him, and I wasn’t sexually active with anyone else at the time.

He said: I just want to know for sure. If the DNA test says it’s my child then that would be great, because me and the child already have a relationship; but if the test says the child is not mine, I still wouldn’t abandon the child.

*Names changed