Thai surrogate mother for Japanese mystery man recalls day she met him
Bangkok slum dweller who bore one of Japanese 24-year-old's 16 children tells of day she met him, and of her fears for baby
When the young Thai woman saw an online ad seeking surrogate mothers, it seemed like a life-altering deal: US$10,000 to help a foreign couple that couldn't conceive, but wanted a child.
Wassana, a lifetime resident of the slums, viewed it as a nine-month solution to her family's debt. She didn't ask many questions.
In reality, there was no couple. There was instead a young man from Japan and based in Hong Kong named Mitsutoki Shigeta, whom she met twice but who never spoke a word to her. This same man - reportedly the son of a Japanese billionaire - would father surrogate babies with 10 other women in Thailand, police say, spending more than US$500,000 to help conceive at least 16 children for reasons still unclear.
What if they’ve done something bad to the baby? Did I deliver him to some terrible fate?
The mystery surrounding Shigeta has riveted Thailand and become the centre of a growing scandal over commercial surrogacy. The industry that catered to foreigners has thrived on semi-secrecy, deception and legal loopholes, and Thailand's military government is vowing to shut it down.
Wassana's story, which she shared on condition that her last name not be used so as to protect her family and eight-year-old son, offers clues into an extraordinarily complex puzzle.
Interpol is investigating Shigeta for human trafficking and child exploitation, but Thai police say they haven't found evidence of either. The 24-year-old, now the focus of an Asia-wide investigation, has said through a lawyer that he simply wanted a big family.
He has not been charged with any crime and is trying to get his children back - 12 are currently in Thailand cared for by social services. His whereabouts are unknown; he left Bangkok after police raided his condominium on August 5 and discovered nine babies living with nine nannies. Police say he sent DNA samples from Japan that prove he is the babies' father.