Leo Forrest was born in January in Armenia with Down syndrome.
Leo Forrest was born in January in Armenia with Down syndrome.
Kiwi father of disabled son defends using money raised in appeal to fly business class.
A Kiwi father whose plea for help raised more than half a million dollars for his disabled son says flying business class was justified.
Samuel Forrest rejects claims the money is not being spent responsibly and some is unaccounted for but confirmed he had fallen out with former Leo Forrest Trust co-trustee Trina McLachlan.
The money was raised through the Go Fund Me site after Mr Forrest's Armenian wife, Ruzan Badalyan, gave birth in her country to a Down syndrome baby.
The appeal said his wife disowned the baby and he planned to raise the child on his own in New Zealand.
The couple have reconciled and live in West Auckland.
Samuel Forrest.
Mr Forrest told the Herald Ms McLachlan had been replaced by "an independent non-beneficiary custodian", whom he would not name.
Ms McLachlan has said she and Mr Forrest fell out over how the money was accounted for. "I wanted to know why there was so little money in the account."
About $380,000 was originally put into the trust, which had since dropped by about $100,000, she reportedly said. "He's bought a new car, all new furnishings for a house and some travel."
The fundraising site recorded that more than $600,000 was raised but Mr Forrest said that was incorrect and the amount after fees of $40,000 came to "a little over $500,000".
He said there were investments Ms McLachlan didn't know about besides the money in the trust account and defended buying a three-year-old Holden Cruze sedan, worth about $20,000, and flying business class with his wife and child home from Armenia.
"My wife expresses milk for the baby. Trying to do that in economy class is not very nice."
He said he had looked at buying an extra seat by the window in economy to give more space and privacy.
"We ended up with a good deal where it was cheaper to go business class."
A donor to the Baby Leo Fund, Satish Patel, said he was shocked by claims some money was unaccounted for and that the parents flew business class. "Like most people who donate, I hope the money actually goes to the cause or recipient, so it would be [good] ... to see where the funds actually went to."
Mr Forrest told the Herald he wasn't being extravagant. Their Massey house is rented. "We have done the bare basics of setting up a home. We don't even have decorations on the wall. We have hardly personalised it."
Mr Forrest had hoped to receive $60,000, enough to bring Leo home and to care fulltime for him as a solo dad for a year, and was overwhelmed to receive many times that much.
He was the fourth generation of his family to belong to the Exclusive Brethren but broke away several years ago about the time his marriage to a church member foundered.
He has four children from that marriage, whom he has not seen since.
Mr Forrest told the Herald that was because it was almost impossible to maintain a relationship after he left the church.
In February, his former wife, Kylie Forrest, said it was his choice. "He still has legal access arrangements."
In 2010, Mr Forrest was convicted of an assault on his father-in-law. He subsequently moved to Armenia, where he met Ms Badalyan.
Public's reaction labelled "harsh"
3D reporter Sarah Hall has been investigating the case, and told Paul Henry this morning that reaction to the family travelling business class was "harsh".
"If you have a down syndrome child coming from Armenia which is in the Middle East it's a hell of a trip, it is a long way back to New Zealand.
"And Ruzan was pumping milk and they wanted the privacy for her so they looked for three seats.
"It's incredibly complicated this situation... on the one hand the public have no right to ask where it goes now because they're not a charity, this is not public money anymore."
She told Paul Henry that she had not seen any evidence that the couple were acting "irresponsibly" with the money.
"I went to their house, all their furniture is from Target that they bought, it's not like they're living it up."
Ms Hall said the best person to be looking after Leo now was his mother.
"Everyone says she's only there for the money... I went to Armenia, I know this woman quite well that isn't the case. It was a cultural thing, they give away their babies to orphanages and she came back for Leo."
