FORMER DIPLOMAT DUMPS THREE KIDS… Declines paternity in the face of two DNA reports

MR. KWAKU Nicol, National Chairman of the Premix Distribution Committee and a member of the Grains and Legumes Development Board, has declined the paternity of three children with his mistress.

Not even results of DNA tests, conducted at his own instance, would convince him that he is the father of the children, aged 14, 10 and 6. The deadbeat father has appealed against court orders confirming the DNA tests by local and foreign laboratories, namely the Department of Human Genetics at the National Health Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa, with blood specimens taken by Medlab Ghana Limited, and DNA Diagnostic Laboratory Centre (DDC) of London, with blood specimen by the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

As a result, Mr. Nicol, the former Minister Counselor and Alternate Permanent Representative of the Republic of Ghana to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) in Rome, has shirked his parental responsibility to maintain the lovely children he allegedly fathered.

In 2005, the career diplomat applied through a family tribunal for a DNA test to determine the paternity of the children, after the mistress had called on him, through the FIDA, to meet his responsibility as the biological father of the children.

He demanded that in the event that it was proven he was not the biological father, the court should compel his mistress to discontinue the use of his family name (Nicol) by the kids.

He also wanted the family name used by the children to be deleted from all records.

Mr. Nicol stated that somewhere in early 1990s, he entered into a casual and intimate relationship with Ms. Rita Adu Nsiah, self employed, which relationship resulted in a pregnancy.

He complained that after a lot of misgivings, he agreed to allow the mistress have the baby.

Mr. Nicol has said further that subsequently, on two different occasions, Ms. Adu Nsiah informed him that she was expecting his children, which he refused to accept responsibility, since he had adequately protected against it anytime he had intimacy with the lady.

According to him, the said infant children were all named by the woman, and that even though he was skeptical about the paternity, he continued to pay all medical, educational bills and monthly maintenance, until it dawned on him in 2004, to ask for a DNA test by a court of competent jurisdiction.

He indicated that in 2004, during her third pregnancy, he was reliably informed that his mistress had been assaulted by the wife of a man she was allegedly flirting with.

Ms. Adu Nsiah, in an affidavit in support of a statement of claim, said until Mr. Nicol doubted the paternity of the children, he was responsible for their maintenance and schooling, and prayed the court for an order of maintenance of the children, pending the establishment of their biological father, which was opposed by Mr. Nicol and upheld by the court.

On the orders of the court, a paternity test on the said children was conducted by Medlab Ghana Limited, which referred the blood specimens to the Department of Human Genetics at the National Health Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa, following which a report was made available to the parties in the dispute, through the Family Tribunal in Kumasi.

The report, as interpreted by Mr. A. B. Lane of the National Health Laboratory Service, stated: “Kwaku Nicol appears to be the biological father of the first child (name withheld),” and explained that “the combined paternity index, calculated from the data obtained on all the systems is 1260.450,” meaning that Kwaku Nicol is approximately 1,260 times more likely to be the biological father, than a man chosen at random.

The report stated: “using the Bayesian method of calculating the probabilities, and accepting a prior probability of 0.5, the probability that Kwaku Nicol is the biological father of the named child is 99.921%.”

A report on the paternity of the second child (name withheld), indicated that the probability that Kwaku Nicol was the biological father of the child is 99.947%, while the probability rating of a third child (name withheld) is 99.7844%

Mr. Nicol has doubted the authenticity of DNA test, claiming some of the figures were not clear. He said a forensic report by D/Inspector Godwin Lavoe of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service in March 2006 on the DNA test report, indicated that illegibility could be due to human tampering, confirming Mr. Nicol's worst fears.

His suspicion stemmed from the undue delay in transmitting the blood samples to South Africa, which was reportedly done in a week (March 9-March 16, 2004) instead of four days, as he was made to believe.

On April 12, 2006, the family tribunal, presided over by His Honour Frank Owusu Afriyie, ordered another test to be conducted at the instance of the parties.

Ms. Adu Nsiah then appealed against the ruling of the court, saying it was against the weight of evidence, emphasising events leading to the birth of the infant children in question.

According to the woman, the learned judge erred in purporting to determine the issue of forgery and fraud by way of legal arguments, instead of calling for evidence on oath from both parties and their witnesses, and offering an opportunity for cross-examination.

She wanted the case to be tried afresh, since the nature of the issues was not determined by legal arguments.

Consequently, the order of the Family Tribunal was affirmed by a Kumasi High Court on appeal, which also ordered a second DNA test to determine the paternity of the three kids.

After a specimen was taken, another DNA test was conducted by DNA Diagnostic Laboratory Centre (DDC) of London, through the (KATH), the result of which was misplaced by the Registrar of the court.

Ms. Adu Nsiah had no alternative than to petition the Chief Justice (CJ), Her Ladyship Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, regarding the missing DNA test report.

While the case was adjourned sine die on the orders of the CJ pending investigations into the petition, the purported missing report was found at a time another certified true copy of the report had come directly from the DNA Diagnostic Centre to the court, upon request.

The court, presided over by Her Ladyship Mrs. Jennifer Dodoo, divulged the contents of the two reports.

The report, which was left in the custody of the Registrar and signed by the Laboratory Director, indicated that the probability of paternity of the three kids was 99.9999996%, and that the alleged father (Nicol), was not excluded as the biological father of the tested children.

The second report, endorsed by one Svetlana Aurmoogum per a covering letter dated October 13, 2009, which was sent directly to the court, and which seal was broken in the presence of the parties, also stated that the probability of paternity of the three kids was 99.9999996%, and that the alleged father (Nicol) was not excluded as the biological father of the tested children.

The second report also came with client identification and consent form, as well as chain of custody documentation, with pictures of parties and signature and essential details. As a result, the court ordered that the proceedings in the matter be transmitted to the Family Tribunal in Kumasi, to continue with the determination of the matters before it.

But, Mr. Nicol, per his solicitors Derby & Co in Accra, has again, objected to the DNA test, and expressed dissatisfaction with Mrs. Justice Dodoo's ruling of November 13, 2009, and appealed against the court's decision on November 19, 2009, on the grounds that the appellate judge failed to critically examine the authenticity of the “Lost and found” DNA results brought to the court by Mr. B. O. Amponsah, the Registrar.

Mr. Nicol averred that that the appellate judge erred in accepting the results of the second DNA result sent to the court by the DDC –DNA Diagnostic Centre dated October 13, 2009, saying the ruling was against the weight of evidence.

Mr. Nicol, who has all this while being represented in court by his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Nicole, currently Ghana's Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, has admitted that the paternity of the children was in dispute and being contested in court, and therefore had not got much to tell The Chronicle.