Father Of Down Syndrome Baby Gammy Is A Convicted Pedophile, Surrogate Not Worried He Will Molest His Daughter
The biological father of Gammy, a baby boy with Down syndrome born to a surrogate mother in Thailand, has been convicted of 22 child sex crimes, including one against a girl who was just 7 years old, the Daily Mail reports. Previously, the Sydney Morning Herald reported David John Farnell, now 56, had been sentenced for molesting two girls under the age of 13 when he was age 25 and age 26, but the story changed when the Mail discovered additional court documents revealing a total of 22 convictions for sexual offences.
Farnell was first tried in an Australian court at age 39 and after being found guilty for the assault charges, he was jailed for a total of four years and six months, the Herald said, additional time in jail added as additional charges were brought against him. Among his crimes were three convications for procuring a girl under the age of 13. Court documents discovered by the Mail describe Farnell’s “secretive meetings” with girls in a garden shed or at home, where it is said he touched them inappropriately and forced them to carry out sexual acts.
Today, Farnell and his wife Wendy Farnell have not been seen since Wednesday when the media reported the couple abandoned their Down syndrome son in Thailand and returned to Australia with only his healthy twin sister. The Farnells, who live in Bunbury, the third largest city in Western Australia, allegedly contracted through an agency in Bangkok to pay a surrogate mother there to carry their twin babies for $9,300. According to surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, the parents and agency found out the baby had disabilities when she was four months pregnant, yet they did not request she terminate the pregnancy until the seventh month. In December, after she delivered the twins, the Australian couple took home the healthy daughter, while abandoning the unhealthy boy.
Farnell, an electrician who works on house renovations, divorced his first wife, the mother of his three older children. Another electrician told the Mail most people working locally in the trade had not associated with Farnell since they learned he had been convicted of child sex charges and served a jail sentence.
Chanbua told Daily Mail Australia she was "a little worried" about Farnell's criminal history. “I am a little bit worried but not a lot because they are father and daughter,” she said through an interpreter, adding, “I don't think that he will do anything bad to his own daughter.” Chanbua is taking care of baby Gammy in the absence of his parents.