The story began in summer 2017 in one of the most important nightclubs in Ibiza. And it will have a new chapter (the end?) next month, in the island’s courts. March 4 is the date of the trial that will resolve the alleged paternity of a Belgian billionaire, denounced by a Spanish dancer.
Although not a resident of the island, the 35-year-old woman in question worked as a go-go dancer during the season at one of Ibiza’s most famous nightclubs.
The man, dedicated to buying and selling antiques, visited her luxurious house in Ibiza every summer. Their eyes met in that discotheque: it was the beginning of a relationship that lasted about two years.
“Their relationship was not continuous, it was marked by comings and goings,” lawyer Fernando Osuna, the Spanish woman’s representative in the lawsuit and a specialist in this type of case, told La Voz de Ibiza.
According to the lawyer, the defendant man is “a Belgian of great wealth”: he has luxury cars, a huge residence in Ibiza and a capital of more than 3 million euros. The man, who is in his 40s, used to visit the island of Ibiza from May to October, a period in which it was common for the dancer to visit him for several days at his mansion.
“Off-season, she would go to Belgium or sometimes to Paris. He would pay for her tickets and accommodations,” Osuna adds. They were trips of a week or ten days. Although with ups and downs, their relationship, according to the lawyer “was consolidated”, and their relatives were aware of it.
Until “she gets pregnant and he breaks off relations”. Until today, according to La Voz de Ibiza, he is still single.
Pregnancy termination
As soon as she noticed the first symptoms, the woman told her partner that she had become pregnant. “He did not want her to continue with the pregnancy. Some of her relatives even called and wrote to her to encourage her to terminate the pregnancy”, says the lawyer, although he clarifies that “there was no coercion”.
The Ibizan dancer, however, “maintained her position; she did not want to have an abortion”.
The relationship was then abruptly cut off. “It is very common for these situations to occur in the face of an unwanted pregnancy,” says Osuna.
Faced with the firm decision to continue the pregnancy, he decided to end the relationship and they never spoke to each other again. During the judicial process, he always denied being the father of the child. In fact, she has never done anything to see him.
A long process
While carrying her child, the plaintiff initiated and closely followed the judicial developments of a process full of delays.
“When he refused to recognize the child as her son, she contacted me and we filed the lawsuit, which has taken a long time. In the middle, we got caught by the covid. In addition, there was a lot of uncertainty as to which court should handle it: the one in Madrid, where she lives, or the one in Ibiza, where he lives. Finally, the competent court turned out to be the one in Ibiza”, says Osuna.
The DNA
After delaying the process as long as possible, the father should have agreed to take the DNA test. Osuna explains that the Law of Prosecution establishes that the presumed father who in a judicial process does not go for DNA testing, “if there are indications or indirect proofs (such as resemblance, or that the story is at least credible)”, he could be declared the father.
In this case, “there were several emails or WhatsApp messages that supported his paternity, so he had no choice,” the lawyer has said.
The DNA test yielded an almost irrefutable proof: there is a 99.99% probability that the businessman is the father of the child.
At the gates of the trial
The lawyer and his client asked the judge for the allocation of 1,500 euros per month for the child on a provisional basis. The judge determined that, at least until the trial is resolved, it should be 500 euros per month. In arrears, he was ordered to pay 20,000 euros.
The amount of the pension could increase if, as Osuna assumes, the defendant’s paternity is confirmed at the trial on March 4.
For the lawyer, almost everything has already been said as a result of the DNA test. “There is little to debate with such a strong scientific proof, so witnesses will not be worth much,” Osuna emphasizes.
In the event that it is confirmed that the Belgian businessman is the father of the child, the minor will not only acquire inheritance rights, but the obligation to provide him with a pension, which could be increased from the current 500 euros, with the corresponding update of the arrears, would be firm.
“It will depend on the judge’s criteria. Some base the pension on a proportion of the parents’ income, which could be as much as 1,500 euros a month, or a little less. But others consider that, even if the father is a multimillionaire, it is enough for him to give his child money that meets the child’s needs,” says Osuna.
So far, a visitation regime has not been considered. The lawyer has advanced that, if this were to happen, he and his client will oppose it. “He is a father who does not love his son, who has disowned his son or done everything possible so that he is not his son judicially,” he justifies.
