Man bitter after spending more than R100 000 on child he thought was his

Percy Letlape, 52 from Pimville, in Soweto, is bitter about the years of lies that he says cost him almost R100 000.

He told Daily Sun that he and his wife were married for 20 years. When he met her, she already had a son.

"I was happy when she told me that she was pregnant with our first baby," said Percy.

But after he divorced his wife in 2010, he says he became a cash cow for what he believed at the time was his own child.

He was getting letters of demand that he pay R3 000 a month for the child. Later the amount went up.

"I have always provided for my child and also the son that my ex-wife brought into our marriage," said Percy.

Then in 2011 his ex-wife demanded that he pay college fees for the child – by this time an adult – for him to further his studies.

"I got a letter from the college saying I had to pay R25 000 a year," said Percy, who took out a bank loan to pay the college.

But the demands for money went on. "I couldn't understand why. I had always given my child the best of everything and suddenly it wasn't good enough," he said.

That's when he started to become suspicious and decided to have a DNA test to establish whether he was the child's father or not.

The test came back negative!

"I was shocked and speechless," said Percy. "It cost me R800 to take samples for the test and it proved I was not the father.

"Now I want my ex-wife to pay me back all the money I have spent over the years on her child."

But he said his ex-wife had not bothered to explain or apologise.

Daily Sun called Percy's ex-wife to ask about the deception and she apparently told them, "The child is Percy's. The DNA results lied."

She said she was not going to pay Percy back any money. "He was supposed to raise the child."