Family rejects child after alleged negative DNA result

A four-year-old boy has allegedly been rejected by the family of the man his mother says fathered him after a DNA test ordered following the man's death in a car accident allegedly excluded him as the biological father.

The child's mother, Melani Matheus (28), is now disputing how the test was conducted, while the man's relatives say a bar argument between their late brother and Matheus had already raised doubts about paternity before his death.

Matheus, from Oshaandja village in the Oshana region, told Namibian Sun recently that Fanuel Henock, the man she says fathered her son, died in a car accident on 17 February.

She claims that after the burial, her late partner's sisters, Hendrina Henock and Ndilimeke Iikela, asked her to agree to a DNA test.

"I did not fully understand the process, but I agreed and signed the documents they gave me," Matheus said.

She alleged that saliva samples were collected from the boy and Hendrina and that she was informed that results indicated the deceased was not the child's biological father.

Matheus said the family later invited her to discuss the results, but her relatives advised her not to attend because they had not been consulted before the test was conducted.

"After that, they returned my child to me without his birth certificate or the clothes that his father had bought for him, saying he was no longer their child," she alleged.

Relationship

Matheus maintains that the deceased acknowledged the child as his while he was alive.

She said they began their relationship in 2022, when he asked her to move to Swakopmund to live with him.

"I fell pregnant while we were living together. He later sent me back to the north, but he accepted responsibility for the pregnancy," she said.

She gave birth in 2023, and the child's birth certificate was registered with the deceased listed as the father.

"In 2024, my son stayed with his relatives because they accepted him as part of their family," she said. "I don't understand why, immediately after his father's death, they suddenly rejected him. It is not fair."

Matheus said both families have now agreed to undergo a second DNA test.

She said they were informed that a blood-based paternity test at the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) in Oshakati would cost N$6 000.

Doubts brewing

The deceased's sister, Ndilimeke Iikela, told Namibian Sun even her brother had questioned his biological relationship to the boy shortly before his death.

"Shortly before my brother passed away, there was an argument between him and the child's mother at a bar while he was visiting the north," she said. "During that argument, she allegedly said the child was not his and that she could raise the child on her own," Iikela added.

She added that the possibility of a DNA test was raised during discussions after the funeral, but Matheus was not present.

"We later sent a relative to inform her family that we intended to arrange a DNA test,” she said.

Iikela said Matheus voluntarily consented to the test by signing the required documents.

She dismissed allegations that the family manipulated the results.

"They claim we paid someone to produce negative results, which is simply not true. We are willing to do another blood test so that everyone can be satisfied," she said.

Regarding the child's birth certificate, Iikela said it remains available at the home affairs ministry.

"If the first DNA results are correct, then our late brother's name should eventually be removed from the birth certificate. Otherwise, we will wait for the outcome of the second test," she said.

Hendrina Henock, whose saliva sample was used as that of a biological relative during the first test, confirmed that the DNA analysis was conducted at a private laboratory in Oshakati and that Matheus signed the consent forms.

"The child's family believes the process was unfair. We are ready to do another DNA test whenever they are ready so this matter can finally be resolved," she said.