THE Department of Justice has approved the indictment of Australian pedophile Peter Gerard Scully and six others for string of non-bailable charges of sexual abuse and exploitation of nine young children in various provinces in Mindanao.
The DoJ found probable cause in the charges of statutory rape, human trafficking, child abuse, child pornography and voyeurism against Scully, his former live-in partner Liezyl Margallo, German national Christian Johann Rothe, Alexander Lao, Ma. Dorothea Chia, Haniel De Oliveira and Marshal Ruskin.
The preliminary investigation conducted by Assistant State Prosecutor Jinky Dedumo showed that the respondents were members of a syndicate involved in prostitution and pornography preying on children below 12 years old, including a one year old, and uploading of such abuses in pornographic websites in the internet.
“In sum, ruthless pedophiles and sexual predators Scully and Margallo, with the aid of and/or in conspiracy with other respondents, availed a scheme of design, under the guise of adopting the minor victims, including the 18-month-old, with the promise of supposedly taking good care of them, feeding them and sending them to school. Instead, the said little ones were exploited, abused and molested,” stated the resolution approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.
Dedumo stressed there is evidence to hold Scully and Margallo criminally liable for committing sexual abuses, including touching of private parts, oral-genital contact or sexual intercourse with the rescued victims, whose names are withheld due to confidentiality rule on victims of human trafficking under the law.
Based on testimonies of 45 witnesses, it was also found that respondents would show such acts in exclusive porn websites and collect payments from their viewers via money transfer.
“Margallo and Scully would photograph and/or film or take videos of said minors while being naked and while performing sexual acts either by themselves, or with other children and/or with Scully and/or Margallo,” the resolution stated.
“In short, said minor child victims were made to perform sexual and lascivious acts while being photographed and/or filmed, with said acts being done with the participation and/or under the direction of Scully and Margallo for the online viewing of his foreign customers/clients in exchange for money or consideration,” the DoJ pointed out.
Among those posted by the respondents on porn websites were a series of videos entitled “Daisy’s Destruction” which showed five naked minors—including the infant.
The DoJ stressed that the international law enforcement community even branded it as worst form of sexual and physical abuse.
The incidents took place from April 2011 up to September 2014.
The respondents will specifically be charged in court for 13 counts of rape, six counts of qualified trafficking in persons by a syndicated two counts of qualified trafficking, five counts of syndicated child pornography, nine counts of child abuse in relation to cybercrime, five counts of indecent shows, obscene exhibitions and publications under the Revised Penal Code and four counts of child pornography in relation to cybercrime.
A separate charge of murder was considered absorbed in a charge of qualified trafficking in person where the victim was killed and buried in the kitchen of a house that the respondents have rented in Surigao.
The National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) filed the complaint after the arrest of Scully in February last year.
Scully was already charged earlier before the Cagayan de Oro Regional Trial Court Branch 37 for similar charges filed by two victims aged 9 and 12 years old who managed to escape from their custody.
Apart from criminal findings, the DoJ also recommended to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to provide help and support to the rescued victims.