And finally… failure not an orphan

A scam run by a pair of identical twin brothers has left them out of pocket after both were ordered by a Brazilian judge to pay maintenance to a child whose paternity could not be established.

And finally... failure not an orphan

The judge’s order came after the two men hatched a plan to avoid any financial obligations by refusing to say which one of them had fathered the child.

The court heard how the twins, referred to in court as Fernando and Fabrício, had used their resemblance to impersonate each other and date as many women as possible, and then defend themselves from allegations they were cheating on girlfriends.



A DNA test proved inconclusive because of their identical twin status and so they had assumed it would then be impossible to make either one of them pay.

However, Judge Filipe Luís Peruca, in the central state of Goiás, had another idea and said the two men were taking away from the young girl the right to know who her biological father was.

Each man will now have to pay 230 reais; ($60; £45) a month, or 30 per cent of the minimum salary in Brazil, as maintenance.

This means the girl will get twice as much as other children from the same economic background in Brazil.

While the twins’ names have not been disclosed for legal reasons, the judge ruled that both of their names would be on the girl’s birth certificate.

The judge in the town of Cachoeira Alta said: “One of them is acting in bad faith in order to hide the fact that he is the father. Such vile behaviour cannot be tolerated by the law.”

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