Texas woman fined for role in RI baby sale<\/p>\n
AUCKLAND (AP): A Texas woman desperate to be a mother was
\nfined US$31,800 (NZ$60,000) Friday for her role in an
\ninternational baby trafficking case.<\/p>\n
Charli Shirley Connelly, 35, of Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty
\nto four fraud charges relating to the baby's birth certificate
\nand travel documents to the United States.<\/p>\n
In the High Court, Justice Silvia Cartwright fined Connelly
\n$8,000 on each charge and ordered that half the money be paid
\ninto a trust fund for the child.<\/p>\n
Two other people have already been sentenced for their role in
\nthe baby smuggling scheme.<\/p>\n
In April, Indonesian-born Erica Henrietta Langenbach, 52, was
\nsentenced to two and one-half years jail for allegedly
\nmasterminding the plan. She was deported from New Zealand
\nThursday. Australian Dr. Guiseppe Barbaro was fined $10,000 for
\nsigning falsified birth documents.<\/p>\n
The court heard that in July 1997, Langenbach brought a baby
\nto New Zealand and gave it to Connelly in an Auckland hotel room.
\nThe baby was believed to have been bought in Indonesia for around
\n$120. The women attempted an elaborate ruse to convince hotel
\nstaff that Connelly was pregnant and that the baby had been born
\nin the motel room.<\/p>\n
"(Langenbach) ran around asking for towels, she gave false
\ninformation; she was the director of her own production,"
\nConnelly's lawyer, Deborah Hollings said Friday.<\/p>\n
Hotel staff became suspicious when there was no evidence of
\nthe birth. Hollings said Connelly was desperate to have a baby
\nand had been manipulated by Langenbach.<\/p>\n
"She was psychologically blinded by her own intense desire to
\ngive an infant a new home and a better life," Hollings said.<\/p>\n
Connelly had believed the baby had been legally obtained, but
\nwas so besotted with the baby that she went along with
\nLangenbach's false-birth hoax at the hotel.<\/p>\n
Noting Connelly was extremely unlikely to ever be allowed to
\nadopt a baby legally, the judge said a prison sentence was
\ninappropriate.<\/p>\n
Cartwright said authorities will never know if the baby was
\nunwanted by its parents, but that now the child will never know
\nits family or ethnicity. Outside the court, Connelly's U.S.
\nlawyer Thomas George said she still wanted to adopt a baby.<\/p>\n
In a suburban Auckland home, 11-month-old "Baby Paul," named
\nafter the police officer who headed the case, is flashing his new
\nteeth and learning to walk, carers said.<\/p>\n
Despite an investigation spanning four countries authorities
\nstill do not know who his parents are.<\/p>\n
"He is... well-loved... but he is a little man from
\nnowhere," Childrens' Service manager Julie Sutherland said.<\/p>",
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