Paternity is the legal determination of which man is the father of a particular child. The determination of fatherhood is necessary primarily for two reasons, namely the status of legitimacy or illegitimacy and the maintenance of the child concerned.
What is DNA?
In almost every movie, crime or legal drama or series on television, we normally hear the words “DNA”. More often than not, we see law enforcement officers collecting samples at crime scenes to be analysed.
“DNA” stands for Deoxyribo-Nucleric Acid. All living things are made up of microscopic units comprising all parts of an organism. These vital units are known as cells. Each human embryo receives 23 chromosomes from the ovum of its mother, and 23 chromosomes from its father’s sperm thereby making a total of 46 per cell.
What is DNA Testing?
A DNA test is a sophisticated new method to identify human to human identity.
According to the 8th Edition of the Black’s Law Dictionary, DNA identification is a method of comparing a person’s DNA, patterned chemical structure of genetic information, with the DNA, in a biological specimen (such as blood, tissue or hair). It is also known as DNA fingerprinting or Genetic fingerprinting.
Knowledge of one’s DNA is also an increasingly important factor in the treatment or amelioration of genetic weaknesses.
What is a Pre-natal Paternity Test?
A prenatal paternity test is a modern non-invasive prenatal test which can identify whether a man is a baby’s father before the baby is born i.e. during pregnancy.
Who may Apply for a DNA Test?
It is important to highlight that one cannot analyse another person’s genetic information without consent as this would infringe on one’s rights. An individual, a legal practitioner or a magistrate may apply for a paternity test?
As a general rule, it is accepted that the discovery of the truth i.e. paternity or non-paternity should prevail over the idea that the rights of privacy and bodily integrity should be respected. Paternity tests have been accepted by our courts in recent times as having a very high degree of accuracy able to positively identify the natural father with a statistical probability of as much as 99.9%
For instance, in the case of Mtshingwe v Moyo HB 1805-05 the High Court held that:
“the certainty of paternity is beyond legal principles and therefore can only be determined by scientific analysis of the child’s blood after matching it with that of the natural mother and the disputed father(s). Our courts have always accepted and ordered that the parties involved submit themselves for blood group tests. The court’s understanding is that the procedure has always required the mother’s blood sample too, however, due to the advancement of medical technology it is now possible to determine the issue of paternity accurately without the mother, by analysing the blood of the child and the father.”
Conclusion on DNA Paternity Tests in Zimbabwe
The importance of the DNA test is that it can set to rest nagging doubts and festering resentment by one party which must be detrimental to a child’s welfare. Even when doubts proved justified, many children would be at least in no worse position than before, and a clearing of the air might be for their ultimate welfare as blood tests can establish a man’s non-paternity, but not his paternity.
Tests involving a mother, a child and the alleged father can conclusively show that the alleged father is not in fact the father of the child. However, such tests cannot conclusively show that a particular man is the biological father of the child in question. They can only show that the man concerned belongs to the group of men who are the possible fathers.
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