Seven-month-old baby Gammy was allegedly abandoned by his Australian biological parents when they found out he had Down syndrome.
We have heard plenty about David and Wendy Farnell over the past week. And as time went on, the story became more and more complex – and disturbing. There was the father’s history of child abuse. The story about the couple’s relationship being kindled on a Chinese mail order bride website. The RSPCA’s trip to their residence to take their allegedly neglected dog away.
But tonight, the parents have broken their silence in an effort to let Australia “hear their side of the story”.
56-year-old David and his wife Wendy Farnell have spoken exclusively to 60 Minutes’ Tara Brown about their decision to leave their biological son in the care of his 21-year-old Thai surrogate Pattaramon Chanbua, while taking his twin sister Pipah home to a new life in Perth.
Here’s what they had to say:
On leaving Gammy in Thailand:
David: “We didn’t leave him behind. We wanted to bring him with us but things were happening that we couldn’t.”
David: “The surrogate mother wanted to take ‘our girl’ and we were getting scared that we were going to lose her. We had to try and get out as fast as we could.”
On whether they left Gammy in Thailand in an effort to save their daughter:
Wendy: “We always want our son.”
Top Comments
Paedophiles never change. I cried for the little boy that was left behind.
I have a healthy disregard for media beatups and usually let things slide but this one got the better of me and I need to waste my time venting my opinion! Yes, I can empathize that it must be horrific to be hated and judged by so many as these two are. I understand that to want a child so desperately that you take a chance with overseas surrogacy is really difficult, and then to find out one of your children could potentially suffer from medical conditions – well I can’t even imagine how hard that would be. But I have zero sympathy. To demand a refund upon finding out there is a medical problem with your child defies belief! Claiming to leave Gammy behind in an attempt to do anything to protect the “little girl” makes my skin crawl – quite simply they chose the healthy one and left behind the sick one to fend for himself. His lies on top of lies on top of lies was so obvious it was painful to watch, almost as painful as the pathetic tears of guilt and sympathy. What they hoped to achieve from this interview is utterly confusing – and if anything it only confirmed what most of us already thought. Admitting to not even calling to see how Gammy is or going to the embassy to find out what to do about this little boy let alone their complete lack of knowledge of their rights tells us everything we already thought we knew about them and more. And on it’s own this fiasco already makes them appalling people. Add to that his paedophile past and you have yourself the most repulsive man and useless enabling wife deserving of all the judgement they have brought up on themselves - we won’t be groomed the way others have been. How dare he sit there playing victim to the poverty stricken surrogate mother they used who desperate for money bears children for people she doesn’t know. Then blame her for them having no choice but to leave without their son! How dare he sit there and allow his unfortunate misguided wife make excuses for him - don’t worry about his abuse of children because it is in the past and his own children love him so he is a good man. His crocodile tears are an insult to the lives he has already ruined (that we know about) and a denial that this little girl could too have become a victim of him and his naive wife. But thanks to the heroes in this story - the surrogate mother and little Gammy, the baby girl has hope and so do many children who also may have become surrogate children to paedophiles. There is some hope that maybe one problem that creates victims to the alarming number of paedophiles we have in the world will finally stop.
Said eloquently in words that I just couldn't find to express what I also saw in the interview, of a manipulating paedophile and enabling wife, she also left her child behind, thank god! Gammy is safe. From my understanding treatment if there is any for paedophilia, takes decades of intense counselling, Farnell only served three years in jail, it would have been at least six to twelve months to get him into any of the sessions, and he claims he is cured. Of course we don't know what the physcological assessment is on the person, as it under medical confidentiality. What I saw was man in a corner trapped like a rat, showed no remorse for his victims, just tears for himself, that his plan hadn't gone the way he had wanted it to, being able to live in the facade of a decent man who can hold his head up high In the community. Fortunately our medical and legal professionals can see through all this, they would be having a good look around his home and assessing both he and his wife, who is not without fault, she was also part of the decision making to leave with one baby and not provide some support for the child they left behind, a sick and disabled child. Poor baby girl, if she stays with the couple or Farnell is required to live elsewhere, her life will be under continued scrutiny from relevant authorities to ensure her safety. At least I hope so.