Convicted Australian paedophile father allowed to keep Thai surrogate baby
Australian couple David Farnell and Wenyu Li sparked international furore in 2014 when they were accused of leaving baby Gammy in Thailand and returning home with his healthy twin sister Pipah
The father of a Down’s syndrome baby at the centre of a surrogacy scandal did not abandon him in Thailand and can keep his twin sister despite being a convicted paedophile, a court ruled on Thursday.
Australian couple David Farnell and Wenyu Li sparked international furore in 2014 when they were accused of leaving baby Gammy in Thailand and returning home with his healthy twin sister Pipah.
Thai surrogate Pattaramon Chanbua, who gave birth to the siblings, tried to get Pipah back the following year after learning Farnell was a convicted child sex offender.
But the Family Court of Western Australia ruled that Pipah could continue to live with the Farnells in the western city of Bunbury.
“I have decided Pipah should not be removed from the only family she has ever known, in order to be placed with people who would be total strangers to her,” Chief Judge Stephen Thackray wrote in a 272-page decision.
Thackray said he did not think the child was at risk from her biological father, and pointed to the “strong attachments that Pipah has now formed with the Farnells”.