Researcher laments prevalence of paternity fraud

A Clarendon woman being charged after allegedly collecting money from a man she convinced was going to become a father has reignited debate about just how far some women may go to deceive men about pregnancy.

Public health expert and researcher Dr Paul Andrew Bourne says his research suggests that 40 per cent of Jamaican women said they knowingly gave a man a ‘jacket’.

“And they knowingly do things to ensure that they get money. Of those persons who said they have not done it, about 70 per cent of them said they know other women who have done it,” Bourne told THE WEEKEND STAR. “This is something that is widespread and happening worldwide, not only Jamaica. It’s knowing and raw deception.”

But Bourne said what particularly concerns him is the role the women’s mothers allegedly play in enabling the deception.

“The mothers are supporting their daughters doing this to men. They will not correct their daughters,” he said.

Bourne said he has repeatedly recommended that women must be charged and that paternity testing at birth should be mandatory.

“That is our only way out. We have got to start taking this approach otherwise it’s going to reach a stage where we’re going to have a lot of women dying because men are going to kill them. Taking them to court is a more subtle way to do it but not everyone can handle it in such a way,” he said, calling it a societal issue.

“Because people will know that a woman is not pregnant or a child is a jacket and say nothing. Everybody knows except the man. A number of these things are happening in Jamaica and it’s so widespread that I’m dreading what is going to be the outcome of this in a short while.”

A senior gynaecologist said while some symptoms associated with menstruation can mimic early pregnancy, there comes a point when pregnancy must be medically confirmed.

“If you feel as if you are pregnant, the first thing you do is take a pregnancy test. It’s not going to show that you’re pregnant if you’re not pregnant. And if she was going to a doctor or clinic, the midwife at the clinic would find out that there’s no enlarged uterus or anything to indicate pregnancy,” the gynaecologist said. “There has to become a time where some active deception has to occur. It can’t be that you think you are pregnant based on symptoms alone.”

The doctor explained that breast tenderness, bloating and nausea can occur around a woman’s menstrual period and may resemble early pregnancy symptoms. But the doctor also questioned, “How long you can continue that without doing a pregnancy test to find out that you are not pregnant?”

Attorney-at-law Bert Samuels said knowingly obtaining money by pretending to be pregnant could amount to a criminal offence.

“Under the Larceny Act, any person who obtains money by false pretence commits a criminal offence. Therefore, a woman who says she’s pregnant and collects money directly from anyone, when there was no pregnancy, is actually collecting money on the false pretence. It is a criminal offence,” Samuels said.

“If the man can prove that she wasn’t, in fact, pregnant, then police should be able to investigate and bring charges against her, particularly if he handed the money to her directly.” However, Samuels said criminal law deals with the guilty mind, so if a woman honestly believes that she is pregnant and collected the money, then that would be a defence.

“But when you set out to deceive the man, just to collect money, that’s where a criminal offence is committed,” he said.

“I’d imagine when people meet upon hard times and pregnancy is something that is in the peculiar knowledge of the female, a male can only stand by and see whether he believes or not. I think that as time gets harder, people are finding ways to scam people and that sounds to be a window through which some people could jump to con men.”