A mother who did not want her daughter’s biological father to be officially recognised has been prosecuted after she sent a friend’s child for a DNA test.
The woman, who cannot be named by court order, was handed a one-year jail term suspended for three years and received the maximum ten-year general interdiction, barring her from holding any public office or job with the government.
Criminal action was taken against the woman in September 2013, following developments before the Family Court.
The court heard how problems between the couple began when the child – who turns two this month – was born, leading the woman to register ‘unknown father’ on the birth certificate.
However, the woman’s former partner instituted proceedings to be officially recognised as the father.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Robert Mangion, upheld his request and ordered paternity testing.
Court expert Marisa Cassar was appointed to conduct the test but the mother attended the appointment with her friend’s child instead of hers, ensuring a disparity in the comparison. On that occasion, the mother refused to have any swabs taken.
Surprised by the result, the father asked the court to order that this DNA result be compared to the mother’s DNA.
The woman then sent her friend in her stead, so the DNA sample would match her tested child’s.
However Dr Cassar noted that the two women had different signatures and that the woman who attended the test was not the same woman who had gone with the child the first time around.
As a result, the mother was charged in court with making a false declaration.
In court, the woman said she had acted in this manner because she had been abused by her former partner’s relatives and did not want them to be in any way involved in the upbringing of her daughter.
Magistrate Doreen Clarke noted that from evidence presented in court, the woman had not given testimony under oath and so could not be convicted of perjury.
Police Inspector Kylie Borg prosecuted. Michael and Rebekah Tanti Dougall appeared for the woman while Ludwig Caruana represented the father.