Cambodia jails Aussie
> Authorities crack down on ‘rent-a-womb’ businesses
PHNOM PENH: An Australian nurse who managed a surrogacy clinic in Cambodia that matched foreign couples with local women was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday, as authorities tackle the “rent-a-womb” businesses.
Tammy Davis-Charles, 49, has been in custody since her arrest in November last year, weeks after Cambodia abruptly banned commercial surrogacy.
Authorities moved to shut down the trade, which critics say exploits poor women, after a ban in Thailand pushed the shadowy industry across its borders.
Davis-Charles is accused of moving from Thailand to take advantage of the surrogacy boom in Cambodia, which lacked regulations at the time and quickly mopped up demand from foreign couples, mostly from Australia.
Police said her clinic charged would-be parents up to US$50,000 (RM215,000), while Cambodian surrogates received around US$10,000 each – a vast sum in a nation where the average annual income is around US$1,200.
Davis-Charles, who advertised surrogacy services online, was accused of bringing more than 23 Cambodian women into the trade for 18 Australian and five American couples.
“Tammy Davis-Charles was an intermediary between intended parents and Cambodian surrogate mothers,” judge Sor Lina said.
The Melbourne native was also convicted of falsifying documents.
Two Cambodian colleagues were convicted of the same charges and also jailed for 18 months.
In her defence statement in July, DavisCharles broke down in tears in front of the court appealing for mercy from the bench, saying she had already “lost everything” during her six months in custody.
During the trial she denied recruiting the surrogates, saying her role was limited to providing medical care.
She had twins through a Thai surrogate before going into “the surrogacy business full-time to help people everyday”, according to her post on the website of her Bangkok-registered company. – AFP