Wrong daddy? - Mother insists birth certificate is a lie

The haunting absence of his name on a birth certificate is tearing Malcolm* apart.

For the 34-year-old, that missing name represents a question mark, and casts a shadow of doubt that makes him wonder if the nine-month-old baby boy who bears another man's surname is really his flesh and blood.

Malcolm once shared a fiery romance with Harris*. Baby Jahlani* was conceived during the time when they were together. However, accusations of cheating, lies, and broken trust have meant that the baby is caught in the middle.

When Harris gave birth, she registered the child under another man's name. Now she has dragged Malcolm before the court. He anticipates that the judge will order a DNA test. Malcolm says he is not afraid of the truth.

"Mi know seh when we go court dem a guh send we fi do a DNA; and mi wouldn't mind do it before, so mi have that fi show as evidence," Malcolm told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Through a partnership between THE STAR and DNA testing firm Polygenics Consulting, Malcolm and Harris will finally get the truth about who is the daddy.

"Mi not confident the child is mine," said Malcolm, who has only cradled the baby in his arms on one occasion.

Harris, however, has no doubt about the paternity of the child. She said Malcolm was fully aware of the pregnancy, but chose to distance himself.

"From mi pregnant, him don't give the baby a dollar," she claimed.

"One day him tell mi seh him know say a nuh fi him baby. Mi tell him seh a him get mi pregnant. Mi did inna hospital November, the baby born December. Mi call him, mi beg him fi come. Him seh him caah leave work, then him seh him have enemy a town, so him caah come," she said.

When it came time to sign the birth papers, Harris said she begged Malcolm to show up. He refused. Instead, another man stepped in.

"Mi ask him if him a go sign the paper. Him seh him nah come. So the guy mi used to talk to come from country and sign it willingly," she said.

Harris said Malcolm is unfairly using the colour of the child's skin to judge his paternity.

"The baby born brown, me black, him black, so a that him a use," Harris explained.

The mother told THE WEEKEND STAR that she has carried her burden alone.

"From mi pregnant fi him, him don't give the baby anything," she said.

"Mi throw partner, mi play bingo, mi scrape every dollar just fi buy clothes and feed mi baby," Harris added.

The distressed mother said Malcolm has refused to bond with the child.

"Mi bring the baby to him workplace one and two time. Him hold him, then him start run we. Him seh, 'Mi nuh wah wul him. Move him from side a mi.'"

On one of those visits, Harris recalled that the baby stretched his tiny hands towards Malcolm, only for him to turn away.

"The baby is so innocent to this, him just a reach fi him father," she shared.

Saddled with the burden of raising the child by herself, Harris has turned to the court to force him to provide for the child.

Both Malcolm and Harris now wait for the results from Polygenics Consulting, even as they look forward to their day in court. Malcolm anticipates that the result will mean freedom from doubt.

"Mi just wah confirm," he said. "Mi caah live wid this question mark over mi head."

For Harris, it is a chance to silence the whispers and vindicate herself once and for all.

"Every time mi look pon mi baby, mi know is his," she declared. "Mi only want fi prove it and done."

* Names have been changed to protect identities.