Child Sex Pervert Father who Abandoned Down Syndrome Twin Gammy Met Wife Through Chinese Mail Order Bride Agency: Now Protection Officers Demand Meeting with Parents as Scandal Grows
- David and Wendy Farnell were married in 2004 in Jianjiang
- They met through matchmaking agency after Farnell's first marriage ended
- He was jailed in late 1990s for sexually molesting two girls under age of 10
- In 1998 he was charged with six counts of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 13 and was convicted and sentenced again
- Child safety officials dropped by on Tuesday, asking the couple to meet with them
- Doctors say baby Gammy is now out of danger after chest infection
- His Thai surrogate mother has said she wants his twin back
Daily Mail UK, 5 August 2014
The parents at the centre of the baby Gammy surrogacy scandal met through an agency that organises mail-order brides.
David Farnell and Wendy Li married in June 2004 after being introduced by a matchmaking website
They had known each other for eight months and Mr Farnell,
a convicted child sex offender whose first marriage had broken down, had travelled to Jianjiang for the wedding.
Zhanjiang Happy Marriage Agency described them as 'very responsible and sincere to their marriage.'
'In order to know more about the lady, David came to Jianjiang on 22 June 2004 for their meeting and interaction When the man came again in October of 2004, they held their wedding on 24 October of 2004,' a statement on the website says.
Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Janbua gave a traditional greeting to the media as she vowed to 'never abandon' baby Gammy on Tuesday
Ms Pattaramon speaks to the media on Tuesday at a hospital in Sri Racha, where Gammy is being treated
This was one of the first photos of Gammy the world saw after a campaign to help fund his medical treatment was started
The pair, who live in the town of Bunbury, in Western Australia, are at the centre of an international scandal after they were accused of abandoning the baby boy they had through a Thai surrogate mother because he had Down syndrome.
His sister, now six months old, returned with the couple to Australia. Last night officials from the state's Department of Child Protection and Family Support left a note at the couple's home asking for a meeting.
There has been no sign of the Farnells since the plight of baby Gammy was made public last week. Doctors had believed he might not survive a chronic chest infection. However, he is now out of danger.
This comes after the Farnells who paid 21-year-old Pattaramon Janbua to be their surrogate mother claimed they 'never wanted to give him up' but feared they would lose his twin sister if they stayed in Thailand.
A friend of the couple told the Bunbury Mail that claims the pair left Gammy behind because he had Down syndrome were false and the Farnells only fled Thailand because the government in Bangkok collapsed.
'Gammy was very sick when he was born and the biological parents were told he would not survive and he had a day, at best, to live and to say goodbye,' the statement said.
It has also been revealed the Australian father is a convicted child sex offender.
Farnell abused at least three girls under the age of 13, court documents show.
Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Janbua, who is now caring for Gammy, accused the couple of only taking his healthy twin sister back home to WA.
Earlier this week, the couple denied knowing of six-month-old Gammy's existence and said they only had a baby girl.
The WA Department of Child Protection are now investigating the couple because of the father's criminal past.
Farnell's wife has confirmed her husband had a conviction but she believes he is a good man.
But Ms Pattaramon - who was paid a total of $16,000 to carry the Farnells' children - has told the Seven Network: 'If the father is an offender I want my daughter back.'
The Farnell's home in Bunbury, south of Perth, WA, where baby Gammy's twin sister is living
A dog sits behind the gate of the house of the WA couple at the centre of the baby Gammy surrogacy scandal
On Tuesday, the Farnell said they never asked Ms Pattaramon to have an abortion, that they did not know Gammy had Down syndrome and that they only left the baby boy in Thailand because they were told he was going to die.
They claim that because Ms Pattaramon gave birth at a smaller hospital instead of the one they planned their surrogacy agreement became void.
The twins were allegedly born two months premature and the Australian couple said they no longer had any legal rights over them.
Farnell was jailed in the late 1990s for sexually molesting two girls under the age of 10 and was sentenced to three years behind bars.
While serving time for that crime, in 1998 he was charged with six counts of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 13 and was convicted and sentenced again.
Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Janbua holds her baby Gammy, born with Down Syndrome, at the Samitivej hospital on Monday
Farnell, an electrician who has three adult children, reportedly married his second wife Wendy Li in China in 2004.
Two neighbours who spoke to the Daily Mail Australia said they had been aware of the father's past child sex charges.
'We've known about it for years,' one local said in Bunbury, 180km South of Perth, in WA.
'This is pretty much a street of retirees and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves.'
Another neighbour said while she was aware of the allegations, she had no idea they had a baby.
Farnell obtained a child via a surrogate mother in Thailand despite being a convicted child sex offender because there are no laws to stop him in his home state of Western Australia.
Pattaramon Janbua shared a tender moment with her baby boy Gammy at a hospital in Chonburi province, southeastern Thailand on Sunday
In a shocking loophole, authorities look at children born via overseas surrogates on a case by case basis, meaning sex offenders can bring home children from Thailand.
To make matters worse, it has been reported by Channel Nine that the WA-based mother used her married name on Gammy's birth certificate but her maiden name on her baby daughter's documents.
The only obstacle the Australian couple would have faced in bringing the child home to Australia is a DNA test with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This test is only in place to prevent human trafficking.
Thai authorities are now considering charging the surrogate mother with human trafficking.
There are currently no tests to see if new parents are convicted paedophiles and local authorities, apart from in the state of Victoria, do not automatically investigate the parents of children born overseas.
If DFAT is concerned with findings on a DNA test it then raises the issues with the local child protection authority.
'If you are going to a dodgy agency in Thailand no questions are asked,' Brisbane-based surrogacy lawyer Stephen Page told Daily Mail Australia.
Late this afternoon, the Federal Government emphatically ruled out any possible changes to legislation which could potentially overhaul laws to over-ride states and territories.
The Attorney-General's Department issued a statement to Daily Mail Australia stating that 'states and territories are responsible for child protection and the investigation about child safety or wellbeing'.
However, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed that the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Trade and the Attorney-General's Department will jointly review other aspects of commercial surrogacy.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday that you couldn’t helped but be moved by the situation that baby Gammy found in himself in.
A lawyer presenting the Australian biological parents of Gammy is expected to address the media from the couple's South Bunbury home
A Channel Nine journalist who has been to the WA couple's home said they have a daughter with the same date of birth
as Gammy although the mother's maiden name is used on the birth certificate, possibly to avoid detection.
Lawyer Mr Page said if the couple had gone to the United States for surrogacy they would not have been legally allowed a child. There are strict rules in the US when it comes to convicted child sex offenders.
Gammy's twin sister may be able to continue to live with her Australian father if child protection authorities deem he is no longer a risk, Mr Page said.
He explained that the couple would not be able to use an overseas surrogate if they lived in Queensland, NSW or the ACT because the practice is illegal. In Victoria, a parent with a criminal conviction is automatically banned.
The lawyer, who works with Australians who are trying to have children from every state, said he always asks people who come to him for help in going through surrogacy overseas if they have criminal convictions as he doesn't want to 'facilitate paedophilia'.
He pointed to the case of Australian citizen Mark J. Newton and his long-term boyfriend Peter Truong who are currently serving 40 and 30 years in an Indiana jail, in the United States, after they were convicted of horrific child sex crimes.
They sexually abused a boy they had 'adopted' after paying a Russian woman $8,000 to be their surrogate in 2005.
Stephen Page is one of Australia's top surrogacy lawyers and has dealt with hundreds of parents
seeking surrogacy overseas. He said their were no laws to stop the WA couple from having surrogate children
Police claimed they adopted the boy 'for the sole purpose of exploitation' and recorded uploaded footage of his abuse to an international syndicate known as the Boy Lovers Network.
He was abused just days after he was born and throughout his six years with the couple.
'They claimed they were wonderful gay parents who wanted to be surrogates,' Mr Page said.
Asked whether he thinks child protection will intervene in the case of Gammy's sister, Mr Page said: 'Who knows what will happen?'
Gammy's surrogate mother, Ms Pattaramon, has now demanded Gammy's sister be returned to her in Thailand after learning of the Australian man's child sex offence.
She said: 'I am very worried about my baby girl. I need help from anyone who can bring my girl back to me as soon as possible... this news make me sick.
'I will take care of my twin babies. I will not give her or him to any family that wants a baby.'
The Australian father on Tuesday told the ABC that Ms Pattaramon was not the woman he believed carried his child and that he had had problems with the Thai agency, which has now shut down.
Gammy's mother has threatened to sue the family, claiming that the children’s biological father in his 50s, had visited her after she gave birth.
He had only bought milk for the girl, she claimed, and ‘never looked at Gammy’.
'The twins stayed next to each other but the father never looked at Gammy...could say he never touched Gammy at all,' she said.
Ms Pattaramon told the ABC that the pair had cried on the day they collected their daughter from hospital but left their son behind.
She also alleges that they asked her to have an abortion when she found out that she was carrying a child with Down Syndrome.
Gammy’s plight has provoked fury across the world with critics savaging his biological parents. Donations have poured in and now stand at more than $200,000.
Meanwhile the little boy is still gravely ill at Samitivej Sriracha Hospital in Chonburi province, south-eastern Thailand.
He is battling a lung infection and, at one point, his birth mother did not expect him to survive.
Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has labelled Ms Pattaramon a ‘saint’ and an ‘absolute hero’ and said the outpouring of support was a strong indicator of the way Australians felt about the situation.
Ms Pattaramon says she will sue Gammy's Australian biological parents for leaving their son behind in Thailand
Baby Gammy has sparked new calls to reform surrogacy laws
Gammy's story could prompt the Australian government to look closer at surrogacy
laws with the Department of Foreign Affairs already examining practices in Thailand.
Agencies were working with Thai officials on the broader surrogacy issues, the department said.
Mr Morrison said the legalities surrounding international surrogacy were ‘very, very, very murky’ and regulations must be looked at carefully.
‘Sure, there are lots of Australians who are desperate to be parents but that can never, I think, sanction what we have just seen here,’ he said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has also said the case illustrates the pitfalls of international surrogacy.
It is illegal for people living in Queensland, NSW and the ACT to undertake commercial surrogacy in Thailand and new Thai laws brought in last week also mean it will now be much more difficult for Australians to seek surrogacy in the country.
On Friday, Mr Page warned that babies of desperate Australians who are using surrogate mothers in Thailand could end up being put into orphanages after Thai surrogacy laws changed.
Australians using surrogates in Thailand could also be prosecuted for human trafficking under the new laws that ban surrogacy if the prospective parents aren't blood relatives.
The lawyer called the changes 'appalling' and said his clients have been left with no way to contact the pregnant woman carrying their babies, after the Thai military allegedly confiscated medical records from IVF clinics.
'I've been contacted by parents who can't contact the surrogate parents midway through pregnancy. They can't find out whether their baby or the mother is OK,' Mr Page told Daily Mail Australia.
'It's a disaster how the Thai government have announced it.
'These children didn't ask to born in this mess,' he explained.
Commercial surrogacy, where a woman is paid a fee to carry a child, is illegal in Australia.
However, if there is an agreement for the biological parents to cover just medical and other reasonable costs, the practice is legal.
Gammy, pictured here with his older brother Game and mother Ms Pattaramon, is expected to be moved to a hospital in Bangkok in the coming days
The three of them sit happily huddled together on a hospital bed, Game keeping an eye on his little brother
In hospital on Sunday the six-month-old held onto a creme coloured bear, who looked to be wearing a doctor's lab coat
Ms Pattaramon previously said she loved the six-month-old boy like he was her own child, and has vowed to care for her son
Quote:
THE SURROGACY PROCESS IN AUSTRALIA VS THAILAND
Commercial surrogacy is banned in Australia and it is illegal for people living in Queensland, NSW and the ACT to undertake commercial surrogacy in Thailand. It's also illegal for Australians to select a baby's sex.
Current Australian Medicare policy forbids Medicare rebates for IVF use for surrogacy and to receive surrogacy as a treatment option in Australia the following conditions must be fulfilled:
- The intending parent has a defined medical disorder that makes it impossible or unacceptably dangerous to carry a baby in her uterus.
- The surrogate is older than 25, and younger than the age of natural menopause (52 years of age). This may be increased slightly to 55 in the unique situation of a surrogate who is the mother or mother-in-law of the intending parent.
- The surrogate must have already given birth to a healthy child of her own.
- The surrogate does not have a past history of pregnancy-related illnesses or complications.
- The surrogate has had an established relationship with the intending parents for at least two years by the time of the embryo transfer.
- Neither the surrogate or intending parents suffer from a significant psychiatric disorder that would impair decision-making or the care of the child.
Many Australians have flocked to Thailand over the years because the rules were far less strict. However, the rules have changed this week.
After Thailand’s military government reviewed 12 Thai IVF clinics involved in surrogacy cases they have announced new laws.
Surrogacy is now only recognised in Thailand if:
- The intended parents are a heterosexual married couple who are medically infertile.
- The surrogacy is altruistic.
- The surrogate is a blood relative.
Surrogacy in Thailand is illegal if:
- The intended parent or parents are unmarried under Thai law (i.e. de facto couples, same sex couples and singles are excluded).
- Any money is paid to the surrogate.
- The removal of the child from Thailand without permission of Thai authorities will breach Thailand's human trafficking laws.
These new laws will now exclude almost every Australian from pursuing surrogacy in Thailand.
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