JUDGMENTBY: ABDUL KADIR SULAIMAN J

This is an appeal by the applicant against the decision of the learned magistrate dismissing her claim on behalf of the infant daughter for maintenance against the respondent made under s 3(2) of the Married Women and Children (Maintenance) Act 1950 (the 1950 Act). Her claim is contained in her affidavit affirmed on 3 April 1987. Section 3(2) of the Act states:

If any person neglects or refuses to maintain an illegitimate child of

his which is unable to maintain itself, a court, upon due proof

thereof, may order such person to make such monthly allowance as to the

court seems reasonable.

Under the said subsection, the onus is on the appellant to satisfy the court that the respondent is the father of the illegitimate child and not for the respondent to prove that he is not the father. See s 102 of the Evidence Act 1950. According to the affidavit of Wong Nyet Yoon, the mother, as a result of her intimate relationship with the respondent, she conceived a child in May 1985 and on 7 February 1986 she gave birth to the child and the said birth was duly registered with the respondent duly named as the father. The responden

Click Here to Read the rest of this document