ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

Five years ago, Marcia*'s world shattered when she uncovered that her husband, Joe*, was having an affair with her then 16-year-old daughter, Dolly*.

Joe is Dolly's stepfather. She moved into the house after running away from her father's home months before. Overwhelmed with shock and devastation, Marcia first left her marriage and sent Dolly back to her father. However, a few months later, she made the difficult decision to return home to work on her marriage, and even allowed her then-pregnant daughter to move back in. Dolly declared that her boyfriend, who lives in their community, was the one who impregnated her, but this was little comfort for Marcia. In fact, the mother grew more and more unsettled after the child was born, as she began seeing features of her husband in him.

"Could this be Joe's child?", she asked herself.

The question gnawed at her, and when she saw an advertisement about this newspaper's partnership with Polygenics Consulting, offering 12 free DNA tests to solve paternity mysteries, she, without hesitation, called and requested a test.

Representatives of Polygenics Consulting collected DNA samples from the baby and Joe, and tested to see if there was a match. Marcia had vowed to walk away from the marriage if the test showed that her husband was the father of her grandson.

"Up to Wednesday morning mi turn to him and seh, based off a this result, yuh know what going to take place? And him turn to mi and seh him nuh 100 per cent ... him one million per cent sure certain [he is not the father]," Marcia said.

With everything on the line, the family awaited the verdict of the test. The results are definitive.

"The alleged father is excluded as the biological father of the tested child. ...The alleged father lacks the genetic markers that must be contributed to the child by the biological father. The probability of paternity is 0 per cent," the report from Polygenics Consulting read.

Joe is not the father!

Marcia is relieved; divorce was now off the table.

"Mi naah lie, it mek mi feel really good fi know seh the doubts weh mi did have clear up," she told THE WEEKEND STAR.

For Joe, the DNA test result does not come as a surprise. He insisted that he used a condom on the occasions he had sex with his stepdaughter.

"A feel 100 per cent betta in a mi self because, when dem a seh a mi a di father, mi seh 100 per cent no," he declared.

Dolly responded with little enthusiasm when given the results, responding "alright" when told Joe is not her child's father.

MUST LEAVE HIS HOME

But while the results brought relief, they did not solve all the family's problems. Joe is now adamant that Dolly, now 22, must leave their home.

"She (Dolly) need fi try find some weh because she keep on a itch up round wi ... but mi a guh give har time. Mi nah really rush har that way, but mi a guh tell seh, with everything that happen, and even though she know little better and I wasn't lying, mi a try protect myself," Joe said.

Marcia, however, has refused to put her daughter out.

"At this moment she nuh really have nuh weh fi guh. Dem have a saying seh seh 'Finger stink, yuh caah chop it off', and mi know seh if anybody did find themselves in a fi har position dem would a wah deh weh dem mother deh," she said.

Still, she concedes that having Dolly in the home has caused strain.

"Mi and him never used to live suh, suh mi get why him a seh him nuh want har deh. But mi tell him seh, if she a guh, me a guh. Those were my exact words because she a done fi mi already," Marcia stated firmly.

Marcia said she and Dolly had been working on their relationship. Dolly asked for forgiveness and Marcia gave it willingly.

"Mi tell har seh mi forgive har long time and, until she can help harself, mi a guh help har," the mother said.

She also got criticisms from readers who labelled her as a bad mother.

"Although people seh mi is a bad mother and mi a this and mi a that, mi try my best up til now. She deh here, she nah pay light bill, she nah pay water, she nah find food, nothing at all. She nuh work -- a me and mi husband work," she said.

* Names changed to protect identity.