Aussie, cohorts in ‘Daisy’ sex video to be charged in court

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has approved the filing of a string of criminal cases against an Australian national and his accomplices behind the “Destruction of Daisy” sex and physical abuse video of children as young as one year old.

In a 151-page resolution prepared by Assistant State Prosecutor Jinky Dedumo and approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, there is probable cause to prosecute Peter Gerard Scully, his live-in partner Liezyl Margallo, German national Christian Johann Rothe, Alexander Lao, Ma. Dorothea V. Chia, Haniel Caetano De Oliveira and Marshal Ruskin on eight counts of qualified trafficking in persons committed by a syndicate.

They will also be facing five counts of syndicated child pornography, nine counts of child abuse, five counts of indecent shows, obscene exhibitions and publications, four counts of child pornography under the Cybercrime Prevention Act, 25 counts of photo and video voyeurism and 13 counts of rape.

The DOJ said the case for murder for the death of a 12-year old victim found buried in the kitchen of the syndicate’s house in Surigao City has been absorbed in the qualified trafficking in persons.

“[T]here exists probable cause to charge respondents Scully and Margallo, in conspiracy with each other and confederating with other cohorts… Scully and Margallo groomed the minor children by making them watch sex videos and photographs through the house computers to prepare them for sexual activity… thereby subjecting the said minor children to conditions prejudicial to their growth and development,” the DOJ resolution said.

“Worse, said minor victims were not only sexually abused but were also maltreated or physically abused and tortured. A clear form of child abuse and exploitation!” the resolution added.

The case is about the sexual and physical abuse of eight Filipino girls ages 1 to 13 in Cagayan de Oro City from April 2011 up to September 2014. The abuses were recorded with the use of a digital camera and uploaded on a porn website.

“Apparently, [these videos] have been known to the international law enforcement community for quite some time. Inquiries… to foreign law enforcement officers revealed that the said [videos] contained serious sexual abuses and physical torture on children believed to be from the Philippines by an unidentified Asian-looking woman and her unidentified male Caucasian accomplice,” the complaint read.

The NBI-Anti-Human Trafficking Division and the DOJ Office of the Cybercrime (DOJ-OCC) started their investigation after foreign law enforcement counterparts informed a Philippine contingent of a so-called “Daisy Video Case” during an Interpol Human Trafficking Conference in Bermuda in October 2014.

The Philippine authorities were assisted by the police from the Netherlands, which earlier investigated the “Daisy Video Case” and already possessed a case file containing photographs of the victims, the male and female suspects and the interior of the houses where the abuses took place.

The investigation by Philippine authorities was fast-tracked by the warrant of arrest issued against Scully by the Cagayan de Oro Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 37 after he was charged by two Filipino girls ages 9 and 12 for sexual and physical abuse. The two victims managed to escape and narrate their ordeal to their parents.

Scully was arrested last Feb. 20 at Purok 2, Barangay Violeta, Malaybalay based on the information provided by Margallo./rga