The juvenile court in Accra will on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 commence the hearing of a case in which a Catholic Reverend Father stands accused of being the father of a six-month-old boy whom he is alleged to have abandoned.

The plaintiff, Josephine Ganyoame, 24-year-old woman, has filed a suit in court accusing Rev Fr Yves-Lucien Evaga Njana, a Cameroonian Catholic priest and diplomat based in Ghana, of neglecting responsibility towards a six month-old child he allegedly fathered.

In the suit filed on April 7, the plaintiff is seeking a declaration that the respondent’s irresponsibility breaches the rights of the child to a name, basic necessities of life, welfare and social protection.

She is further praying the court to direct the Reverend Father to subject himself to a paternity test in order to establish he is the biological father of the child, among other reliefs.

The Weekend Finder newspaper reports Friday that when it contacted Rev Father Yves-Lucien Evaga Njana, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with the lady but denied being the father of the child.

He claimed that he used a condom each time they had sex and could therefore not have impregnated the lady.

He indicated that all efforts to get the girl to go for a paternity test have proven futile.

Joshepine Ganyoname says she rejected the test because she wanted it ordered by a court so the result cannot be altered.

Josephine revealed she met Rev Father Njana one night in October 2014 when she was nearly knocked down by a car driven by the reverend minister.

She said after the incident, the Reverend Father then ex­pressed interest in supporting her education at the university and further made good his promise by paying her admis­sion fee at the University of Professional Studies, where she started a degree pro­gramme in Business Adminis­tration.

She alleged that few weeks later, the Reverend Father started making sexual ad­vances towards her.

She narrated that when she told her friends about the ad­vances of her benefactor, she was told that it was a normal demand benefactors make of their beneficiaries.

“So the first day he took me to his house, I spent the whole night at his residence. The fol­lowing week, he came for me again. So in two weeks we had met three times.”

She said when she latter re­alised that she had taken seed, she informed Father Yves-Lu­cien Evaga Njana, who was then outside the country.

She claimed further that when Father Yves-Lucien re­turned, he took her to the Obaatampa Women Hospital at East Legon for an abortion, which she refused to the dis­pleasure of the priest.

Father Lucien explained that when the test was done, it indicated that the pregnancy was one week old, a period when he was out of the coun­try, which raised doubts in his mind as to whether he was truly the one responsible.

Josephine continued that Father Yves-Lucien thereafter gave her an amount of ₵20,000 for the upkeep of the pregnancy.

She said she used ₵9,600 of the amount to rent a single room self-contained apartment at East Legon at ₵200 a month for three years, with the rest of the money going into taking care of the pregnancy and an amount of ₵6,000 used to purchase a plot of land at Afienya.

She claimed that after deliv­ery, Father Yves-Lucien re­fused to take responsibility of the child. She therefore wants the court to compel the priest to subject himself to a paternity test and take full responsibility for the child.

But Father Lucien says he had made every effort to get Josephine to subject the child to a paternity test but to no avail.

He indicated his readiness to go for the paternity test if or­dered by the court, but said as at the times of this interview, he had not been served with the suit.