Child victims cheer as their torturer, Peter Scully, is found guilty and sentenced to life

THE victims of Australian paedophile Peter Scully have told of their relief now that he will die in jail after he raped and tortured kids as young as one for pay-per-view.

THROUGH tears, cheers and applause, children in a Filipino court exploded with emotion as Australian child sex predator Peter Gerard Scully was found guilty and sentenced to life for raping, abusing and trafficking them over several years.

Scully appeared unmoved as in the Cagayan de Oro court in Mindanao in southern Philippines Judge Jose Escobido found him guilty of one charge of trafficking which carries a life sentence and five charges of rape by sexual assault for which he was sentenced to a maximum nine years each.

Peter Scully of Australia, accused of raping and trafficking two girls in the Philippines, arrives at a court for his arraignment n 2015. Picture: AFP

Despite Scully being told he would “suffer” life in jail, the court went further and said the former Victorian man would still be arraigned next week on 11 further sexual assault charges and pledged to follow through with another 50 charges for justice to be done to his many victims.

In all he faces 75 charges in three different Filipino districts related to abuse of more than a dozen children.

Scully’s lawyers suggested their client would look to appeal.

Those in court told News Corp Australia many of his child victims were in court and cheered as soon as they heard the word “life”.

“Some of the victims are dead but the applause by some of the kids, the victims, who were there in court summed up what this means for all of them and those who worked on the case,” one court witness said.

Peter Gerard Scully pictured entering the courtroom in Mindanao, South Philippines, June 13. Picture: Joey Nacalaban/Gold Star Daily

Scully fled Melbourne in 2011 after being pursued on fraud charges related to property scams. But from Mindanao he built an international paedophile network with pay-per-view streams on the dark web of children some as young as one-year-old being abused on camera streamed around the globe.

Some of the children were put in chains and raped and tortured by Scully and two accomplices on camera sparking a team of Australian Federal Police officers from various divisions both based in the Philippines and Australia to urgently work around-the-clock to gather evidence, find him and bring him to justice. On one video he boasted to would-be viewers to watch the “mental ruin” of a baby girl as she was tied upside down and abused. He later forced her to dig her own grave but she was rescued in time.

Peter Scully of Australia leaves the court handcuffed to other inmates Picture: AFP

The video known as “Daisy’s Destruction”, which was selling for $10,000 per view and rated one of the worst abuses of its kind ever recorded, was also ordered by Judge Escobido to be taken down from the internet with him warning anyone having this video would be arrested and charged. The video was being downloaded at one stage 15,000 times a day.

Scully, who was arrested in 2015, and his accomplices found their victims either as homeless street children or by promising parents to pay for their childrens’ upbringing and education.

An accomplice and Scully’s former Filipino partner Carme Ann Alvarez was also found guilty and sentenced to life, in their shared 70-page court judgment, and ordered to pay compensation of at least $123,000. Alvarez cried at hearing their sentence.

“While we celebrate the conviction, we should not be complacent, this case should tell us parents, teachers and all that we are the first line of defence in protecting children from online predators and exploiters,” Atty Perfecto Mendoza, head of KASO network of non-government agencies fighting child sexual crimes said.

Originally published as Child victims cheer as their torturer, Peter Scully, is found guilty and sentenced to life