A government investigator leads away a cuffed Peter Gerard Scully who
was arrested for producing pornographic videos that showed toddlers and children being sexually
assaulted and tortured by his former live-in partner “Lovely.” CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–The arrest of a Dutch national in the Netherlands last year on charges of child exploitation has traced the operations of child pornography activities in the Philippines, which uses girls ages 1 to 12 years who are not only forced to perform sexual acts but are also tortured to death.
One such victim died in the hands of her abuser, according to the National Bureau of Investigation.
“A video of a young girl being directed to perform oral sex by an older woman speaking in the Visayan dialect led the Dutch police here,” Eric Nuqui, head of the NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division (Ahtrad), told the Inquirer.
According to Nuqui, a film clip provided by the Dutch police showed a naked 1-year-old with hands tied, legs drawn apart and crying nonstop while being tortured and sexually assaulted by a masked older girl. The victim has been identified in the video as “Daisy.”
The attacker on the video repeatedly whipped the baby girl and placed a duct tape on her lips to silence her cries. She had been tracked down by the NBI and identified as “Lovely,” a former live-in partner of Australian national Peter Gerard Scully, suspected producer of child pornographic videos starring young Filipino girls as young as 1 year old. He is now in the custody of the NBI.
Scully, 51, who is also wanted for fraud in his country, was arrested last week in one of his safe houses in Barangay (village) Violeta in Malaybalay, Bukidnon province.
The NBI requested that Lovely’s real name be withheld so as not to jeopardize the rescue of other victims and pending the filing of charges against her.
MISTAKEN CAPTION. This photo appeared on Page A13 of the March 1 issue of the Inquirer, and here online for some time, with an erroneous caption. Shown here with one of the rescued girls is NBI agent Janet Francisco, not “Lovely,” the suspect, as mistakenly identified earlier. Agent Francisco was responsible for cracking the case and the rescue of several victims. The Inquirer deeply regrets the error, and apologizes unreservedly to Ms. Francisco. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
No limits
“Scully and his partners produced films not just of young girls performing sexual acts but also of young girls being tortured and sexually assaulted—or whatever it is their client demands online. There were no limits to what they allow these young girls to do,” Nuqui said.
Nuqui said the same video showed how the frail and tiny body of Daisy convulsed and shook vigorously every time Lovely alternately whipped her with a thin belt and dropped hot wax from a melted candle on her private parts.
The same video also showed how Daisy gasped for breath after Lovely pushed her most private part on the face of the toddler, who was hanged upside down.
Nuqui and other agents assigned on the case described the video as “the worst video we have encountered in our years of campaign against child pornography.”
Nuqui said that based on the video provided by the Dutch police, Scully used at least eight girls, including “Barbie,” whose body was exhumed in a house in Villa Corito in Surigao City.
He said seven of the victims had been rescued and are now under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Lawyer Janet Francisco, executive officer of the NBI-Ahtrad and officer on case, said the video was filmed in one of the Scully couple’s previously rented house in Barangay Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, in 2011.
The NBI also captured Lovely, who had confessed her participation in the illegal activities of Scully and is now cooperating with the investigation.
Francisco said Lovely was nabbed in the domestic airport, where she was on her way to Bukidnon to see Scully from Palawan, where she had just spent her honeymoon with her husband, a French national.
“It was Lovely who led us to Scully,” Francisco said.
The NBI said that based on Lovely’s cooperation, investigating agents have located and exhumed what Lovely claimed was the body of Barbie, 12, in Scully’s previously rented house in Villa Corito, Surigao City.
Lovely told the NBI that Scully was forced to kill the young girl because they could not hide the torture marks inflicted on her.
Body covered with cement
In her statement, Lovely said Scully killed Barbie sometime in August 2012.
The skull and bones of what appeared to be Barbie’s remains were retrieved by the NBI medicolegal team led by Dr. Ruperto Sombilon Jr. from a small, shallow pit estimated to be 40-inches deep and 24-inches wide near the bathroom of the house, which was concealed with thick layers of cement and tiles.
“Based on the position where the body parts were retrieved, the body was folded and pushed inside, then covered with cement,” Sombilon said.
Found in the hole was a skull with complete dentures, small limbs and body parts.
Sombilon said an examination would be conducted on the skeletal remains to determine the cause of death.
Francisco said other videos produced by Scully, which were provided by the Dutch police, showed other naked young girls performing sexual acts on older women, but only the faces of the young girls with bright eyes were shown on the video.
One of these videos led the Dutch police to the country, Francisco said.
With Filipino girlfriends
She said the Internet-based pornographic trade, based on the NBI findings, was run by Scully with the participation of his Filipino girlfriends. Using only a laptop, they filmed the videos—in various places in Mindanao—featuring young girls, who were lured with promises of money and comfortable lives.
Francisco said most of the girls who were coerced into the sex trade were mostly members of poor families who moved from one city or province to another.
Francisco said the video drew various reactions from agents on case.
“It was hateful, disgusting and most of all painful to watch a very young girl being tortured and sexually assaulted at the same time. Listening to her cry of physical pain is something you could not easily erase in your memory. The shrill of the voice of a baby who is obviously in so much pain makes you want to feel the pain instead of her,” Francisco said.
The NBI said the production of the sadistic and pornographic videos are being financed by a worldwide syndicate, with members coming from Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Australian and Dutch authorities are now coordinating with the NBI to locate other members of the syndicate.
The videos of young girls being tortured and sexually assaulted at the same time were so appalling that investigators could not watch it in one sitting.
“It was hateful, disgusting and painful to watch the babies being tortured and sexually assaulted, and listening to their cries could haunt you forever. Videos of young girls ages 1 to 7 performing sexual acts with older women were also among those uploaded by the group of Scully,” Francisco said.
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