The father of the little girl born to a mentally disabled woman, who did not know she was pregnant, also has an intellectual disability, The Times can confirm.

The couple met about six years ago when they attended what was then called the Eden Foundation for people with disabilities.

They started spending lots of time together, even saying they wanted to get married, according to the man’s father who preferred not to reveal his identity.

“I just want things to be told as they are without having to tell everyone my identity or that of my family,” he said.

Last week, The Times published the story of Taina Grech and her family. Ms Grech explained she only realised that her sister-in-law, Corinne, was expecting a baby eight months into the pregnancy.

Baby Mariah was also born with a disability, suffering from global developmental delay and has a missing chromosome.

She is developing slowly and, although she is now 13 months, she is developed like a six-month-old child.

Ms Grech said the family remained unaware of the implications of the missing chromosome as tests were still being carried out.

They are hoping the genetic origin was traced to the mother since the boyfriend wanted to remain out of their lives, she said.

The boyfriend’s father was very hurt when people posted comments on timesofmalta.com attacking his son.

Assuming that the boyfriend did not have a disability, some readers accused him of committing a crime by impregnating a mentally disabled woman.

The boyfriend’s father contacted The Times to explain that this was not the case and there were “inaccuracies”.

This newspaper saw medical documents proving his disability as well as documents issued by the Employment and Training Corporation showing he was currently working as part of a disability employment scheme.

“If it wasn’t for this scheme, my son would not have a job,” he said, echoing the words of Ms Grech who was struggling to find a job for Corinne.

The boyfriend’s father said when Mariah was born he and his wife had bought her many clothes and baby accessories. They even prepared the hospital pregnancy bag for Corinne.

However, they lost contact with Corinne and her family following disagreements that left their intellectually disabled son scared to approach her and his daughter, he said.