Court Orders Identical Twins to Each Pay for Child's Support After DNA Fails to Determine Paternity

A Brazilian court has ordered male identical twins to both pay for child's maintenance after it could not be established who between them is the father. 

The twins are said to have hoodwinked women by impersonating each other so they could sleep with as many as possible.

None of the two admitted to be the father of the child and DNA tests could not prove paternity as the twins are so genetically similar.

Brazilian news outlet Globo reports that each blamed the other, with an aim of escaping responsibility.

In his ruling at the Cachoeira Alta Court in the central state of Goias, Judge Filipe Luís Peruca ordered both brothers be included on the girl’s birth certificate.

He also ordered each to pay maintenance of 30 percent of the minimum wage – 230 reais (£45) a month.

“It was clear they each used the other’s name, either to attract as many women as possible, or to hide betrayal in their relationships,” the judge ruled.

For legal reasons, the two have not been named, but in court they were identified as Fernando and Fabricio.

The girl's mother told the court that she had a short-lived relationship with the father of her daughter. The two met at a party of friends they had in common.

“He told me he had a twin brother, but I did not get introduced,” she said. “At the time, I did not suspect anything.”

“The strange thing about the day is that he presented himself as Fernando, but he was with the yellow motorcycle that he said was from Fabricio,” she said.

“One of the brothers, in bad faith, seeks to conceal fatherhood,” judge Luís said.

“Such behaviour, of course, should not receive a guarantee from the judiciary which, on the contrary, must repress clumsy behaviour, especially in the case in which the defendants seek to benefit from their own clumsiness."

“Given the peculiarities of the case, I believe the decision that most embodies the concept of justice is the one that honours the interests and rights of the child, to the detriment of the tortuous defendants,” he added.