The nine-month-old baby had been abandoned by the mother at the man’s place in Kanana because he does not pay child support.
At first the man told police that the child was not his and he does not know the woman who left the baby at his place. After police threatened to have a paternity test done, the man admitted that the child was his, but he has another baby and wife at home and is afraid to tell the wife that he fathered another child.
According to Constable Jacob Nhlongo, police took the father and the baby to the mother’s house in Kanana, and the father said he will try to pay child support.
Police told the woman that she has a right to go to court and claim for child support.
“We issued a warning to both parents for temporarily abandoning their child and told them that if they do it again they will be arrested and charged for neglecting the child,” he said.
Police advised the woman to involve the courts which will summon the man to bring his Identity Document, payslip and proof of expenditure so that monthly child support can be deducted from his pay.
The child is now back home with the mother.
