Couple convicted for falsifying a child's birth certificate

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery has since amended the child's birth certificate to record the birth mother. Photo / File / Thinkstock

A South Auckland couple who falsified a child's birth certificate will each serve 60 hours' community work.

The pair were convicted in Manukau District Court this morning and given name suppression.

They previously admitted the husband fathered a child with another woman who agreed that the baby would be given up and raised by him and his wife as their own.

After the child's birth in September 2005 the married couple incorrectly registered the wife as the child's mother.

Seven years later, the birth mother alerted the Department of Internal Affairs.

The couple initially denied providing false information but later admitted it.

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery has since amended the child's birth certificate to record the birth mother.

"Accurate and timely birth registration is a right of every child born in New Zealand. A child is entitled to know who his parents are," Mr Montgomery said.

"Recording both parents on a child's birth registration provides evidence of the person's identity, descent and whakapapa."

The maximum penalty for such offending is five years' imprisonment.