The Berekum District Magistrate Court, presided over by Simon Gaga, has granted a 28-year-old cleaner, Mary Adwoa Kyeremaa bail in the sum of GH¢3, 000 with a surety for failing to provide a DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) test result on her 10-year-old son whose paternity is being challenged at the court.
She is to reappear in court on October, 10, 2022, but the court warn that if she failed to submit the DNA test result on both her son and boyfriend she would be remanded into police custody.
Presenting the facts in court, Police prosecutor, Inspector Grace Elorm Nyamedu told the court that the complainant Aluta Kwasi Ansu, a driver residing at Jamdede is claiming that he is the father of the accused son.
The accused who is a cleaner at Amankokwaa Health Centre in Berekum and was in a relationship with the complainant for the past 11 years, which they had a boy (named withheld).
The complainant claimed he took care of the boy for the said years but has not been able to have access to the child, and the issue was reported to Domestic Violence and VICTIMS Support Unit (DOVVSU) for amicable settlement.
On June 27 this year, DOVVSU invited both parties for settlement but the accused revealed that though they were in a relationship in the past but the child in question was for another man and demanded a DNA test to confirm the paternity of the boy.
The complainant said if the child is not for him then he was demanding GH₵120,000.00 for the upkeep of the boy over the period however, the court asked the accused to provide a DNA test to confirm the actual father of the child but she failed to produce the DNA with the excuse that she does not have the excuse to conduct a DNA test.
But the lawyer of accused person Barima Agyekum Hinneh who is contesting the ruling disagreed with the judge to remand his client into police custody because the court lacked the power and authority to take that action.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, BEREKUM
