SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A man who paid more than S$300,000 to a woman after she claimed she bore him twins has gone to court to find out if the children even existed.
Suspecting that he may have been deceived, the man sought information relating to the birth and location of the twins, so that he can decide whether he can bring a lawsuit against the woman.
The facts of the case were so unusual that High Court judge Lee Seiu Kin remarked in his written grounds of decision: "Reality, as some say, is sometimes stranger than fiction."
Justice Lee issued the grounds last week (May 25) to explain why he allowed the man's application for the information on April 19.
The parties are not named in the grounds, which sets out brief details about the case.
Another judge had earlier ordered that information which can lead to the identification of the twins cannot be published, including the identity of the man and the woman.
According to Justice Lee's grounds, the woman told the man in August 2019 that she was pregnant with non-identical twins.
Over the next two years, she repeatedly told him that he was the biological father of the twins, who were born in June 2020 at Hospital X.
While the man did not admit that he was their biological father, he paid out at least S$314,000 to her for medical expenses.
Up till August last year, he continued to press the woman for proof that the twins existed and that he was their biological father.
All she provided were copies of the alleged birth certificates of the twins and a picture of two babies.
The birth certificates showed that the twins were delivered in Hospital Y and the fields in which the name of the father should have been filled in had been left blank.
The woman also told the man that the twins had been sent to China and that her mother had given one of them away.
In October last year, the man searched the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority website for birth records relating to the twins but drew a blank.
He then took out a court application, asking the woman to provide information and documents relating to the twins.
This included information on where and when the twins were born, the identity of the medical professionals involved in the delivery, and the people who currently have custody of the twins.
Justice Lee said the application was necessary to allow the man to determine whether he had a viable claim in either unjust enrichment or deceit.
The man's lawyer, Benjamin Niroshan Bala, declined comment when contacted.
