Peter Scully
This article needs to be updated.(May 2017) |
Peter Scully | |
---|---|
Born | Peter Gerard Scully 13 January 1963 |
Nationality | Australian |
Criminal status | Convicted |
Criminal charge | Abduction, human trafficking, rape, torture, murder |
Date apprehended | 20 February 2015 |
Imprisoned at | Australia |
Peter Gerard Scully (born 13 January 1963) is an Australian convicted child sex abuser. In June 2018, he was found guilty of one count of human trafficking and five counts of rape and sentenced to life in prison.[1] He remains on trial for numerous other crimes against children, including the production and dissemination of sadistic child pornography, torture and murder.
Background
In 2011 Scully fled from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to the Philippines before he could be charged with 117 fraud and deception offences relating to his involvement with a crooked property scheme.[2] From the island of Mindanao he is alleged to have built up a lucrative international pedophile ring that offered pay-per-view video streams of children being tortured and sexually abused on the dark web. Among the victims who had their videoed ordeals sold over the Internet was an 18 month old infant who was hung upside down while Scully and two accomplices raped and tortured her.[3]
Victims were procured by Scully with promises to impoverished parents of work, educating their child and the like, or by his two Filipino girlfriends, Carme Ann Alvarez and Liezyl Margallo,[4] and other female acquaintances such as Maria Dorothea Chi y Chia.[5] Both Alvarez and Margallo also abused children in Scully's videos.
One instance involved the entrapment of two cousins, aged 9 and 12, who might perhaps have narrowly avoided being murdered. After Alvarez, a former child prostitute whom Scully had picked up off the streets and groomed to be a compliant accomplice, had coaxed the two girls back to Scully's abode with a promise of food, he forced them to perform sex acts on each other, which he photographed and videoed. With Alvarez's assistance, Scully also sexually abused both of them. The girls were kept chained in dog collars and, after an escape attempt, were made to dig what they were told would be their own graves.[4] After five days of abuse, Alvarez took pity on them, releasing them and letting them escape. The cousins went to the police; Alvarez was arrested and Scully went on the run.
Daisy's Destruction
The most notorious of Scully's output was titled Daisy's Destruction, which he sold to clients for up to $10,000.[4] Made in 2012, the multi-part film is so extreme that it was for some time regarded as an urban legend.[6] It features the torture and brutal rape of a number of girls by Scully and some Filipina accomplices; the three main victims were Liza (aged 12), Cindy (11) and Daisy (18 months).[7]
Urged on by Scully, some of the worst physical and sexual abuse was carried out on the children by one of his girlfriends, Liezyl Margallo, a former child prostitute then 19 years old.[8] Indeed, it seems Margallo was the sole hands-on victimizer of Daisy: The introduction to the film invites the viewer to watch Daisy's "mental ruin" as she "learn[s] how to please her mistress".[9]
Scully put Daisy's Destruction out under his No Limits Fun "production company", selling it to other pedophiles via the dark web. Among those who acquired it was one of the biggest ever purveyors of child pornography, Scully's fellow Australian Matthew David Graham. Apprehended at age 22, he ran a series of "hurtcore" child pornography sites.[10][11] Graham said he got the video so he could use it to attract more viewers to his network of websites.
Arrest and trial
After Daisy's Destruction surfaced, an international manhunt was launched. Scully was eventually tracked to Malaybalay City in the Philippines and arrested on 20 February 2015. Investigators had six warrants for his arrest,[9] all relating to the abduction and sexual abuse of the two cousins.[4]
While they searched for Scully in the Philippines, investigators managed to uncover the fates of the three primary victims in Daisy's Destruction. Liza was found to be alive, as was Daisy, though her treatment had been so vicious that she has lasting physical injuries. Eleven-year-old Cindy had been murdered, allegedly by Scully. Before being strangled to death with a rope, the girl was subjected to bouts of rape and torture, and was made to dig her own grave. According to Margallo, Scully videotaped himself killing Cindy.[9]
Scully faced a total of 75 charges. He was on trial with others who assisted in the production of his pornography, including four men — Germany's Christian Rouche, Filipinos Alexander Lao and Althea Chia and a Brazilian doctor, Haniel Caetano de Oliveira.[3][12][13]
In October 2015, a fire severely damaged the evidence room containing Scully's computer logs and videos, destroying key evidence.[14] Some believe Scully may have bribed a local police officer,[15][failed verification] as corruption in the Philippines is high.[16][failed verification]
Margaret Akullo, then Project Coordinator for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and an expert on child abuse investigations,[17] described the case as "horrific" and the worst she had ever heard of.
In 2017, Scully escaped the looming threat of capital punishment after Philippine politicians excluded the crimes of rape, treason and plunder from a bill that reintroduced capital punishment to the country. Supporters of the bill agreed to exclude such crimes from the list of those punishable by the death penalty so as to permit smoother passage of the bill through Congress. The law passed by 216 votes to 54.[18]
References
- ^ "Australian Peter Scully given life sentence for human trafficking, rape in Philippines, reports say". ABC News (Australia). 14 June 2018.
- ^ Mills, Tammy; Vedelago, Chris; Murdoch, Lindsay (6 March 2015). "Alleged paedophile Peter Gerard Scully fled a sordid past in Melbourne". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ a b Sutton, Candace (23 September 2016). "Australian child molester Peter Scully faces death penalty in Philippines". news.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d Murdoch, Lindsay (20 September 2016). "Death penalty call for accused Australian child sex predator Peter Scully in Philippines". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Mendoza, Greanne (17 February 2017). "Another suspect linked to Australian sex fiend arrested". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Waugh, Rob (26 September 2016). "What is Daisy's Destruction? 'Snuff film' urban legend actually exists". metro.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Brown, Tara (16 March 2015). "Catching a monster: The global manhunt for alleged paedophile Peter Gerard Scully". 9news.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Alipon, Joworski; Andrade, Angelo (27 January 2017). "Filipina behind brutal 'Daisy' sex videos arrested". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ a b c Brown, Tara (2015). "Catching a Monster". 60 Minutes. Nine News.
{{cite episode}}
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(help) Part 1 - Part 2 - ^ http://www.smh.com.au/national/lux-captured-the-simple-error-that-brought-down-the-worlds-worst-hurtcore-paedophile-20160513-goum54.html
- ^ Dunn, Matthew (20 February 2016). "FBI describe dark net paedophile kingpin as one of the most prolific child sex offenders ever". news.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Reformina, Ina (6 March 2015). "Australian behind 'Daisy' sex videos charged". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Rocha, Alex; Idaló, Eduardo (21 December 2015). "Médico de Uberaba admite pedofilia e se diz doente, segundo PF". g1.globo.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Murdoch, Lindsay (31 January 2017). "Alleged child abuser Peter Scully 'may still be masterminding porn network'". smh.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ Walker, Timothy (9 October 2015). "Australian child abuser Peter Scully could walk free in light of new evidence". Philippines Lifestyle News. CWCMedia.
- ^ Hawley, Samantha (10 March 2015). "Philippine police expect to arrest more people in case of alleged Australian paedophile Peter Gerard Scully". ABC News Online. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ Regional Training Workshop on Responding to Violence against Children in Contact with the Justice System. 3–5 November 2014 conference at United Nations Conference Center, Bangkok, Thailand.
- ^ Murdoch, Lyndsay (8 March 2017). "Alleged sex predator Peter Scully to escape Philippines death penalty if convicted". smh.com.au. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
External links
- "Peter Gerard Scully made Philippines children dig own grave: victims". The Age. Fairfax Media. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
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ignored (help) - Escalante, Shirley (10 March 2015). "Australian man Gerard Peter Scully formally charged with murder, child sexual abuse in the Philippines". ABC News Online. AFP. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
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suggested) (help) - Davey, Melissa (2 June 2015). "Philippines police to mount strong case against accused Australian paedophile". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2015.