Bjorn Burke, STAR Writer

A dancehall selector, who believes he is the father of a baby girl whose paternity was the subject of much uncertainty, remains quite confident as he carries out daddy duties.

Richie Smith, 30, appears to already know the truth about a nine-month-old girl who he strongly believes is his child.

"Is a dance we meet yuh nuh? My brother and her sister did a talk. So when she and her sister and my brother come a the dance, a so we get fi meet," Smith explained, as he reminisced about the night he met the child's mother.

"At the time when she did have baby, me and her did break off. Mi did a try get in contact with her because mi did inna Kingston at the time and mi couldn't find her, and mi call her sister and her sister say is not my own, so mi did just leave it at that," he said. He added that the child has the surname of another man. "My belief is that it look like she never know a who own either."

Biological father

Not withstanding this, however, Smith remains steadfast in his belief that he is the child's biological father and has already started taking care of her.

"Mi have the baby right now because she a work. We kind a start talk back since mi find out say the baby is my own," he said. "Mi would a want the child fi be mine because mi already start take care of her. She favour me and she favour my people dem inna my family. From her forehead come down to her eye she favour me, and from her nose come down she favour her mother"

The child's mother, 19-year-old Shantelle Thompson, a bartender, also residing in Clarendon, concurs.

"To tell you the truth, the baby is dead stamp of him," she said. "Mi have a strong feeling say is his baby."

The Clarendon-based disc jockey told THE WEEKEND STAR that he would be disappointed to discover that he was not the child's father. However, he would eventually accept and continue raising the infant.

Do you have any doubts that a child is yours, or have you been denied access to a child who you believe is yours? Well, here is the chance for you to find out the truth. Contact THE STAR at 932-6271/932-6249 or 932-6282 to share your story and qualify for a chance to get a free DNA test courtesy of Caribbean Genetics.

Names changed