The Australian parents of baby Gammy say they didn’t abandon their six-month-old Down syndrome son in Thailand.
David and Wendy Farnell, of Western Australia told 60 Minutes they fled Thailand without their son because they were focused on saving their daughter Pipah, after their Thai surrogate Pattharamon Chanbua threatened to take her if they didn’t leave Gammy behind.
“The surrogate mother wanted to take our girl,” Mr Farnell said as he fought back tears.
“We were scared we were going to lose her. We had to try and get out as fast as we could.
“We never abandoned him. We never said to the surrogate mother to have an abortion.”
Child protection services visit Gammy’s biological parents
Child protection services visit Gammy’s biological parents
Despite, saying they did not ask Ms Chanbua to terminate the pregnancy, they did admit that they would have terminated the surrogate mother’s pregnancy if it had been safe.
“If it would have been safe for that embryo to be terminated, we probably would have terminated it,” Mr Farnell said.
“Because he has a handicap and this is a sad thing. And it would be difficult, not impossible, but difficult.”
When asked to clarify his comments, Mr Farnell said: “I don’t think any parent wants a son with a disability.”
The couple, who referred to Gammy as ‘the little boy’ throughout the interview, said when they discovered their son had Down Syndrome they asked the agency to ‘take responsibility’.
“It was financial. Give us back our money. This is your fault,” Mr Farnell said.
The pair, who have been trying to have a child through IVF for the past eight years, are adamant that they didn’t ask Ms Chanbua to terminate the pregnancy and said they hoped that Gammy’s condition would be “less severe”.
While the pair maintains they did not abandon their son, they confirmed they have made no attempt to call and check on Gammy’s condition and sent over ‘a few thousand dollars’ once in the past six months.
When they were in Thailand they did not extend their Thai visas to stay in the country to care for him and have not made any enquiries with authorities or the Thai surrogacy agency to bring Gammy to Australia. The pair also admitted they didn’t raise the issue of their son when they visited the Australian embassy before returning home.
As a repeat convicted child sex offender, Mr Farnell stressed that his daughter was safe in his care and spoke of his efforts to take responsibility for his crimes.
“I’ve been convicted of child sex offences and I hang my head in shame,” he said.
“I am deeply regretful of that.”
He also stressed that he no longer has any sexual urges and would not re-offend.
Son defends David Farnell: ‘He’s got a massive heart’
When asked when his sexual urges had stopped, he replied: “In prison through those counselling sessions.”
“She will be 100 per cent safe because I know that I will do anything in the world to protect my little girl,” he said of his daughter.
“I know that I do not have any urges of this nature at all.”
His wife Wendy says she trusts him 100 per cent.
“100 per cent trust I David to not do any wrong thing for the little girl,” adding that she knew about his sex offender past when she married him.
“Everybody hates child sex offenders. They are the lowest form of people, I know that.”
