Surrogate dad convicted of over 20 child sex offences

The Australian father at the centre of an international surrogacy controversy has been convicted of more than 20 child sex offences, court documents reveal.

It had been reported that David John Farnell, 56, from Western Australia, had been a convicted sex offender, but new court documents have revealed the extent of the abuse he carried out — and is likely to raise pressure on the Australian government to intervene in the case.

Farnell and his wife Wendy are at the centre of a scandal that left a Thai mother caring for a baby with Down’s syndrome, while the couple left the country with the child’s healthy twin.

Farnell has 22 child sex convictions, including unlawful and indecent dealing with girls when he was in his 20s. He was sentenced to three years in jail in 1997 for sexually molesting two girls, who were aged seven and 10, in 1982 and 1983.

Court documents reveal he molested the children when they were visiting him at his home. The victims made complaints when they were adults, and Farnell pleaded guilty to 18 charges.

In sentencing, Justice Michael O’Sullivan said the victims had been “robbed of their childhood”.

He noted that Farnell had no previous criminal record and was a “hardworking and constructive member of the community”.

“You have a stable family life which is an irony, really, in the particular circumstances of this case, given that you appear to have robbed the complainants of an opportunity to have such a life,” he said.

Just months later, while still imprisoned, Farnell was again charged — this time with indecent dealings with a child under the age of 13.

A jury found him guilty on four counts and he received an 18-month jail term. He and his wife have claimed they did not know of the existence of Gammy and were only told about the twin baby girl.

But Pattaramon Chanbua, the woman who carried the twins, said they definitely knew about both babies.