Mother Undergoes DNA Test In Baby Switch Saga

Lebogang Mosikare | Monday December 12, 2016 16:16

 

The child’s mother told The Monitor that officials from the police forensic laboratory in Gaborone took her blood samples for DNA tests at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital (NRH) last week Friday.

NRH was ordered by Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo to perform DNA tests on the corpse and the applicant, Dineo Bentu, who said the corpse was not her child. The corpse is currently at NRH mortuary awaiting burial.

She said that NRH told her that she prematurely gave birth to a girl through a caesarean operation, but later changed and telling her that her dead baby was a boy, hence she went to court to force NRH to perform DNA tests on the child so that she would be rest assured that the child she was going to bury was hers.

She said she could not remember what happened after she gave birth because she was sedated. She added that she was told that her child was transferred to Bokamoso Private Hospital (BPH) where she died adding that she was later called by NRH to come and claim the corpse from the hospital.

NRH contention that the corpse at its mortuary was Bentu’s child was complicated by the fact that Nyamadzabo’s ruling clearly stated that some documents before him stated that the child was a male while others said it was a female.

NRH initially wanted Bentu to pay for the DNA test from her pockets hence she instructed her attorney Martin Dingake to lodge a successful application before court , which ordered NRH to bear the costs of the DNA tests.

Bentu told this publication that she is expecting the results of her DNA tests to be out some time this week as promised by NRH. Efforts to contact NRH were futile at the time of going to press as their phones rang unanswered.