Gammy's dad wants son's cash

Surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua holds her son Gammy, born with Down Syndrome. Photo / Getty Images

There is, it seems, no end to David Farnell's capacity to shock and outrage.

The Perth man first came to notice when he and his wife, Wendy Li, left disabled son Gammy behind in Thailand, where he had been born to a surrogate mother. They took his healthy twin sister, Pipah, home with them.

Not long afterwards, it emerged Farnell was a convicted child sex offender. But he and Li still have custody of Pipah following an investigation by Western Australia's Department for Child Protection.

Now, straining belief, Farnell is trying to get his hands on money that was raised for Gammy's upbringing after the case made international headlines last year. After he and Li abandoned the Down syndrome boy, Gammy's surrogate mother, Pattaramon Chanbua, said she would raise him.

A total of A$235,062 ($252,934) was donated by more than 6000 people around the world, with the funds to be administered by Hands Across the Water, an Australian charity that supports Thai children.

Founder Peter Baines said yesterday he had no idea on what basis the couple had gone to court to seek leave to access the funds. He told the ABC: "It's perplexing. I don't understand it on any level."

The move horrified Chanbua, who suggested Farnell had "gone insane to think like this".

She told the ABC: "He does not deserve or have any rights to the fund, as he abandoned Gammy in the first place. People donated money for Gammy and not for anyone else. Even though I am Gammy's mother, I don't have any right to take it."

Baines said the charity had developed a long-term strategy to support Gammy, based on expert advice about his needs.

So far, funds have been used to buy a more suitable home for his poverty-stricken family and make monthly payments for his medical and welfare costs. It has been estimated the remaining money will last another five or six years.

"We are doing all that we can to defend this action, to ensure the money donated remains for the care of baby Gammy," Baines said.