Speaker A
Please be seated. Hello, Your Honor. Hello. This is the case of Gamboa v. Gamboa.
A husband accuses his wife of cheating with their male babysitter, leading to paternity doubts and emotional neglect of their son Dominic.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Paternity doubts can severely damage family bonds and affect child development.
- Trust issues in a marriage can be exacerbated by external influences like a babysitter.
- Open communication and counseling are critical to resolving family conflicts.
- Physical resemblance is often used as informal evidence but may not be conclusive.
- Emotional neglect due to mistrust harms both the child and the parents.
What the video covers
- Mr. Gamboa accuses his wife Margaret of cheating with their male babysitter, doubting the paternity of their one-year-old son Dominic.
- Margaret denies cheating and explains the babysitter was allowed to stay due to homelessness and was a mutual friend.
- The babysitter was found sleeping in the marital bedroom, which escalated Mr. Gamboa's suspicions.
- Mr. Gamboa claims Dominic resembles the babysitter more than him, citing physical traits and behavior.
- Margaret insists Dominic looks like Mr. Gamboa and shares similarities with their other son.
- Mr. Gamboa reveals past infertility concerns due to mumps but questions why only Dominic's paternity is doubted.
- The couple has not bonded well with Dominic, with Mr. Gamboa admitting emotional distance and neglect.
- Margaret presents evidence including photos and video to show Dominic’s resemblance to Mr. Gamboa and the lack of bonding.
- The babysitter allegedly tried to interfere in the marriage, encouraging separation from Mr. Gamboa.
- The judge highlights the impact of the paternity doubts on Dominic’s well-being and the family’s dynamics.
Chapters
- 00:00Case Introduction and Accusations
- 00:50Allegations of Cheating with Babysitter
- 01:56Details About Babysitter’s Presence
- 02:31Work Schedule and Babysitter’s Role
- 03:39Sleeping Arrangements and Family Dynamics
- 05:04Taking in Babysitter’s Children and Regrets
- 05:32Dispute Over Child’s Resemblance
- 05:54Mr. Gamboa’s Infertility History
- 07:14Living Situation and Relationship History
- 08:24Bonding Issues with Dominic
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Thank you, Jerome. Good day, everyone. AUDIENCE: Good day. Mrs. Gamboa, you say you're fed up with your husband because he's repeatedly accused you of cheating, even with the babysitter.
Speaker A
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: All right, you're here today to set things straight, because you say his doubt about paternity has led to the emotional neglect of your one-year-old son Dominic.
Speaker A
MARGARET: That's right, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Gamboa, you argue you'll be crushed if you find out Dominic is not your biological son today, but claim he does indeed look like your former babysitter.
Speaker A
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: You say Mrs. Gamboa is lying about cheating. Yes, Your Honor.
Speaker A
So Mrs. Gamboa, did you cheat on your husband with the babysitter? No, Your Honor.
Speaker A
The babysitter was in the bed at the time that Mr. Gamboa came home, but I did not cheat on him.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: Oh, wait a minute. The babysitter was in the bed? Yes, on top of the bed.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: That's on the bed. (AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Mr. Gamboa, you saw the babysitter on your bed?
Speaker A
No, I was at work, Your Honor, and I got a phone call, because we're all living in the same house.
Speaker A
My stepfather had called me saying that the babysitter was asleep in my room on the floor, with the door shut with my wife in there.
Speaker A
The door wasn't shut, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: She said he was on the bed!
Speaker A
Well, when I got home that morning, he was on the bed. (AUDIENCE MURMURING) The door wasn't shut, Your Honor.
Speaker A
His stepfather doesn't like me to begin with, and Mr. Gamboa knew he was in the room, and he only slept on the floor.
Speaker A
When he came home, I was not in the room. When he came home, I was in the living room watching TV, and he came home and our babysitter was sitting on the bed.
Speaker A
Well, I was working the graveyard shift. So I mean, she would be up by the time I'd be home, so how would I know if she was in the bed with the babysitter?
Speaker A
Because we've been together for so long you should know that I wouldn't do that to you.
Speaker A
You're lying, stop. JUDGE LAKE: So, so, hold on. So you work in a graveyard shift all night?
Speaker A
RAYMOND: Yes, and we have a four-bedroom house. So, I mean, the babysitter could've slept in the other room with his kids, where they were at.
Speaker A
MARGARET: We had eight kids in there. There were eight children in the room. My five, his two, and my niece at the time.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: Well, don't you think it would make sense for you to bring our kids into the bedroom where we sleep and let him sleep in the other room with his kids?
Speaker A
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING) So you have a male babysitter. Nothing wrong with that. However, Ms. Gamboa, I need you to elaborate a bit, for the court, why make that choice?
Speaker A
Why is a male babysitter in your room at all? The thing happened was, the male babysitter was his decision in the first place.
Speaker A
It was a mutual friend of ours that he knew more than I did. And you said that we had discussed doesn't mean that he can come into the room and sleep.
Speaker A
He was not living with us at the time. And Mr. Gamboa offered him to stay with us because he was homeless with his two children.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: So you took in his children? Right. And ever since then, it's been a living hell for me.
Speaker A
I regret it. I regret it to this day. I tried to help a friend out and I ended up like, paying for it with this.
Speaker A
So Mr. Gamboa, you say point blank that you think this child, Dominic, looks like the babysitter.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: Yes, Your Honor, I do. MARGARET: Your Honor, Dominic looks just like his father.
Speaker A
He has the same dimple as our other son. He looks just like him. And then, he walks like him, he has the same like...
Speaker A
I mean, the babysitter walks like me, too. No, he doesn't. The babysitter walks like you?
Speaker A
MARGARET: No. No, he doesn't. RAYMOND: Yes, he does. And the back shape of his head, too, looks just like the babysitter's.
Speaker A
He looks just like his dad. He has the same bump in the back of his head.
Speaker A
He has the same birthmark on the same arm as our other son. Your Honor...
Speaker A
He has the same dimple on the same teeth as our other son. When I was younger, I had severe mumps.
Speaker A
A case of severe mumps at the teenage age, which you could incur infertility. And I was previously with my ex for about five years and I could not conceive with her at all.
Speaker A
So you were under the impression that there was a very good chance that you could possibly have issues conceiving a child with a woman because of having...
Speaker A
If that's the case, why didn't he deny our first son and only Dominic? If that was the case, he shouldn't deny only Dominic and not our first son.
Speaker A
Your Honor, when we conceived our first son, we were all living with her ex.
Speaker A
We were all living in one house, so I mean... MARGARET: Right, and he knew about it.
Speaker A
All of you all were living in one house? When we first got together, we were junior high sweethearts.
Speaker A
So I couldn't conceive with my first wife and then all of a sudden I conceive my first son... I mean, why wouldn't there be doubts?
Speaker A
Why wouldn't there be doubts about Dominic especially if the male babysitter's sleeping in the room with my wife?
Speaker A
But if that's the case, there should be doubts about our first son, because my ex was living in the home.
Speaker A
So let me ask you this. How has this doubt affected your connection with Dominic, Mr. Gamboa?
Speaker A
RAYMOND: I mean, it... Have you bonded with the child? No, I haven't. You have not? A year old, handsome young man?
Speaker A
He's mostly with his mom, he will not come to me. He cries, he throws a fit.
Speaker A
MARGARET: Your Honor, I brought a video of it. He doesn't bond with him. He doesn't do anything with him.
Speaker A
Even now, he don't change the diaper, he don't pick him up. He don't do nothing.
Speaker A
At the time with our first son I wasn't working. Okay, just one moment. Let me first look at the pictures you've presented to the court.
Speaker A
MARGARET: That is Dominic at one years old, and that's Mr. Gamboa around six months old.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: And you say you see a striking resemblance? MARGARET: Yes. RAYMOND: I wasn't always home. I was always working 12, 15 hours shifts, working graveyard shifts.
Speaker A
She was always having the babysitter around. MARGARET: That doesn't mean I'm cheating on you!
Speaker A
That doesn't mean I'm cheating on you. If you're working, you should trust your wife!
Speaker A
That doesn't mean that every guy who works graveyard, their wife is cheating on them.
Speaker A
I mean, when somebody has a set of keys to your apartment and he's snapping photos saying that this is his house...
Speaker A
The babysitter was doing that? RAYMOND: Yes. Your Honor, I strongly believe that our babysitter was trying to mess up our marriage, because at the end of this whole situation, our babysitter, when we kicked him out, he had no place to go.
Speaker A
He went to Mr. Gamboa, "Oh, you should leave her and let's get a house together." And then he would come to me behind his back, and be like, "Oh, let's leave him.
Speaker A
"He's not good for you, we should get a house together." You all are the epitome of messy.
Speaker A
I mean, really! Okay. I want to get back to Dominic, because ultimately, I want to hear how this young child, this young innocent child, has been affected because of this.
Speaker A
You know, these are choices you all have made. Your Honor, when I was in the hospital, when I gave birth to Dominic, Mr. Gamboa was there 13 hours throughout my pain, suffering, everything.
Speaker A
He cut the umbilical cord, gave him a kiss, took pictures with him. Twenty minutes after I gave birth to Dominic, he left, gave me a kiss saying he was gonna go get clothes and come back, because I was in a lot of pain when I had Dominic.
Speaker A
He never came back. For two days, Your Honor. Two days. No, Your Honor, I had work, I still had to go to work.
Speaker A
MARGARET: That's a lie. That's a lie. That's a lie. I still had to pay bills...
Speaker A
But you say, "I'm gonna go home and get some clothes," and you never come back?
Speaker A
I mean, you don't tell a woman in a hospital... I've been in the hospital and just had a baby.
Speaker A
I wish my husband would have said he was about to leave somewhere and...
Speaker A
We're gonna have us a problem. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Your Honor, I couldn't get up. JUDGE LAKE: You don't come back for two days and you say you sent someone to pick her up, because you had to work, but you work graveyard, so where were you all day?
Speaker A
I did pick her up. I had other business to handle. MARGARET: No. JUDGE LAKE: So is the reason you...
Speaker A
MARGARET: What other business is there than your son? MARGARET: Than your son? Exactly. RAYMOND: Bills. A roof over your head.
Speaker A
So my question is, was there a part of you that got out of those hospital doors and start replaying over and over again, "Is this, or is this not my son?" RAYMOND: Yes, Your Honor, because there's always that simple fact that you want to bond with the child.
Speaker A
My first child with her, I had the time to bond with him. Then you should've been there to bond with him.
Speaker A
Well, I had to go to work. Who's gonna put a roof... He didn't go to work.
Speaker A
You didn't go to work. Well, first of all... I take care of all six of her children.
Speaker A
I put a roof over their head. MARGARET: You didn't go to work. I had Dominic...
Speaker A
I had Dominic on a Friday. He did not work until Monday. I got out Monday morning, he did not go to work.
Speaker A
I called his phone, I called his parents, our son, Dominic, had jaundice at the first day.
Speaker A
I was supposed to go home, and he had jaundice and I had to stay there.
Speaker A
And I called him, scared out of my mind to help me with him, and he wouldn't come.
Speaker A
Yes, I did, Your Honor. No, you didn't. You came the next day when I was getting released.
Speaker A
And I showed up. My mother had called me. Even my mother knew I was at work working.
Speaker A
Taking care of business. No, you were not at work. You came the next day when I was released.
Speaker A
We were taking photos of Dominic in the phone. He didn't even want to get his photo.
Speaker A
And I was there for the photos, because... JUDGE LAKE: Really? He did not want to get in the photos.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: You didn't want to take a picture with the brand-new beautiful baby that could be yours, because you had that much doubt?
Speaker A
Yes, Your Honor. JUDGE LAKE: And this doubt... When someone's sleeping in your room when it's not your kids, when she had the option of bringing our kids into the room in here, sending him with his kids in the other room...
Speaker A
I mean, that would cause doubt. And your stepfather calling you saying there's another man in your room.
Speaker A
I mean, come on. Our babysitter texts him... How would she feel if we had a...
Speaker A
The babysitter told me that Mr. Gamboa specifically said it was okay for him to stay in the room on the floor.
Speaker A
I would never say that would be okay. How would she like it in her footsteps if we had a female babysitter?
Speaker A
Mrs. Gamboa, I don't believe that for a minute. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) I don't know any man that's gonna tell another man that it's okay for you to sleep in the room with my wife when I have, what, four other bedrooms?
Speaker A
RAYMOND: No, Your Honor, I would not. MARGARET: Two of them were occupied and the kids were sleeping all in the other room.
Speaker A
But Mrs. Gamboa, your husband has a good point. MARGARET: I know. I admit that.
Speaker A
Just get your children, bring them into your room, and then the babysitter and his kids, they can have the other room.
Speaker A
And Your Honor, that's what I said, I admit that. I made the big mistake of trusting our babysitter to know that he would not lie about it and I made that mistake and I'm living through it now and my son Dominic's living through it now.
Speaker A
Because you feel like ultimately, Dominic is suffering, because he has no bond with his father?
Speaker A
The man you believe to be his father. Yes. How does he treat him differently?
Speaker A
MARGARET: If you look at the video I brought, you can clearly see the damage is done to Dominic.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: You submitted video to the court? Yes, I did, Your Honor. RAYMOND: And if we had a female babysitter and she ended up...
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: I need you to describe this video for me. Right here, this is Mr. Gamboa and Dominic on the video.
Speaker A
MARGARET: Okay, that's your son, go get him. Like what the heck? You walked away, you turned your back on him!
Speaker A
RAYMOND: I've never turned my back on him. You just turned your back! I've taken care of him.
Speaker A
MARGARET: Now he's climbing, okay, that's climbing. If it was our other son, he would automatically just grab him.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: Mr. Gamboa, you're not lending any type of assistance. MARGARET: No concern whatsoever.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: It's hard for me. JUDGE LAKE: And that's a concrete park. MARGARET: Grab him.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: No. MARGARET: Exactly. So Mr. Gamboa, you've admitted that you have not bonded truly with Dominic.
Speaker A
Yes, Your Honour, I have not bonded. JUDGE LAKE: And when I'm looking at that picture as a parent...
Speaker A
I mean, my instinct is to reach out, because that's what parents do. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Your child...
Speaker A
When your son's running away, you don't turn your back on him. I mean, when they get five feet on you, you're going to grab them.
Speaker A
I'm taking care of four other children that aren't even mine. And I take care of all of them.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: But I don't see four other children in that video. MARGARET: Right, but this is about Dominic.
Speaker A
And you treat Dominic the same way you treat the other four, as if he's not his.
Speaker A
Financially he is there 100%. Supporting me, myself, my children, Dominic, and my other son.
Speaker A
But when it comes to emotionally support, he is not there. He is not there.
Speaker A
So Ms. Gamboa, you also submitted a second video. MARGARET: Yes, Your Honor. And please describe what this video shows.
Speaker A
MARGARET: This video right here is my every day life, pretty much. I try to give him to Mr. Gamboa, he doesn't wanna go.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: That's why I feel like he's not even my son. He doesn't want to come near me.
Speaker A
How do I know she's not spending time with... This is my every day life when it comes to him being tired and going to sleep, I put him to sleep.
Speaker A
I cuddle him, I wrap him, I make sure he goes to sleep. He will not go to Mr. Gamboa.
Speaker A
Your Honor, if I was to find out Dominic wasn't mine, I'd be crushed. I want to grow a relationship with him.
Speaker A
MARGARET: Then you should have bonded with him from day one. How can I bond with him if I have to work and take care of the family?
Speaker A
When you come home you can bond with him. I'm tired, I'm working 16 hour, 15 hour shifts.
Speaker A
That's an excuse. It's an excuse. JUDGE LAKE: So, Mr. Gamboa, what happens to this relationship if Dominic is not your biological son?
Speaker A
If he's not my biological son, I have to walk away from the marriage. I don't... I mean, she was just lying to me the whole time.
Speaker A
With the babysitter sleeping in the room. I mean, for my own stepfather calling me and telling me and her believing...
Speaker A
Why would you believe the baby is yours? MARGARET: That's he say, she say. You should believe your wife.
Speaker A
Well, how come you didn't call your husband at work and say, "Hey." I did call you, you didn't answer the phone.
Speaker A
JUDGE LAKE: So, Ms. Gamboa... I even left a message for him saying that he was there.
Speaker A
If Dominic is not his biological son, do you want to make this marriage work?
Speaker A
I'm saying now, and I'm telling you right here, right now, if he comes out to be your son, you need to get help, you need to get counseling for your trust issues.
Speaker A
We need to do marriage counseling. Or you know what? I'm gone. I can't do this anymore. I cannot put my two sons with him in this.
Speaker A
RAYMOND: I mean, it's kind of hard... I think you need the same kind of counseling, because when you bring two men into the same house with your own kids...
Speaker A
If we do not agree on marriage counseling, then there is no marriage. JUDGE LAKE: All right. Well, I think it's time for the results.
Speaker A
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Jerome? Thank you. You're welcome. These results were prepared by DNA diagnostics, and they read as follows.
Speaker A
In the case of Gamboa v. Gamboa, pertaining to whether Raymond Gamboa is the father of one-year-old Dominic Gamboa, it has been determined by this court, that Mr. Gamboa, you...
Speaker A
Are his father. (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) MARGARET: Thank you. Thank you. Bond with him! That's your baby. Bond with him!
Speaker A
No more excuses. Bond with him. Yes, I will. I will be a father. So Mr. Gamboa, your fears have been laid to rest.
Speaker A
That is your son. Beautiful, handsome son. And you've now missed out on one year of his life, being emotionally and spiritually absent.
Speaker A
I commend you that despite your doubts, you still stepped up to the plate and took care of your family.
Speaker A
I agree with your wife, you all need some counseling. And that's why this court offers resources to families to help you get over these hurdles that doubt and bad decisions cause.
Speaker A
Because ultimately, Ms. Gamboa, we're being very honest, and you know I keep it real in this courtroom.
Speaker A
You don't have no business having no male babysitter in your room anywhere near your bed!
Speaker A
Yes, Your Honor. There's nothing he gotta use out of your room. I think you need to just focus on this and your beautiful children.
Speaker A
Are we clear? BOTH: Yes, Your Honor. The court's gonna provide some resources for you to help you start getting through this particular situation.
Speaker A
And I believe you both love each other enough and those beautiful children enough, to do that, all right?
Speaker A
Thank you, Your Honor. I wish you the very best of luck! (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) Court is adjourned.
Speaker A
JEROME: I'll walk you both out together out here.
Topics:paternity courtcheating accusationbabysitterfamily conflictpaternity doubtchild neglectmarital trust issuescourt caseparentingrelationship problems
