Australian man labelled world’s worst pedophile to die in jail

An Australian man labelled the “world’s worst pedophile” will die behind bars after a Philippines court rejected his argument as to why he should be allowed to go free. Warning: graphic.

Peter Gerald Scully of Australia walks in handcuffs as he arrives at Cagayan de Oro city hall in southern Philippines in 2015. Picture: AP Photo

An Australian man labelled the world’s worst pedophile will die in jail after a Philippines court rejected his final avenue of appeal in which he claimed he wasn’t guilty of human trafficking because he was “satisfying his own lust”.

Former Melbourne man Peter Gerard Scully orchestrated a sickening years-long international child sex abuse ring that filmed the rape and torture of human trafficking victims as young as 18 months old, selling the content on the dark web.

Scully, now 62, and his Filipino girlfriend Carme Ann Alvarez were sentenced to 129 years in prison and hit with a second life sentence for their depraved offending.

Their crimes sparked global outrage and prompted calls for the death penalty to be reintroduced.

The skeleton of a 12-year-old girl who Scully raped, tortured and forced to dig her own grave was discovered during the joint international investigation.

The Australian was also responsible for a notorious video depicting the horrific rape and torture of an 18-month-old child which he sold for tens of thousands of dollars to customers online.

Gerard Peter Scully of Australia (R), accused of raping and trafficking two girls in the Philippines, leaves the court handcuffed to another inmate (L) after his 2015 arraignment. Photo: AFP

Scully and Alvarez launched a final appeal in the Philippines Supreme Court in November seeking to overturn their life sentences for the 2014 kidnap, rape and torture of two girls aged nine and 12.

Alvarez found the girls at a mall and offered them food, promising them more if they came with her to a house where she introduced them to Scully.

“Once inside, Scully gave them alcohol, made them undress, and took photos of them naked,” the Philippines Supreme Court documents state.

“He later chained their necks and forced them to watch a pornographic film. Both Scully and Alvarez then sexually exploited the girls while documenting their sexual acts using a laptop.”

The traumatised children managed to escape from the home four days later and immediately reported the crime to police.

Australian national Peter Scully. Photo: AFP

Scully and Alvarez, who have pleaded not guilty throughout the judicial process and forced their victims to relive the horrors in court, attempted to argue in their appeal that their crimes were not trafficking because “they abducted the girls to satisfy their own lust, not of others”.

But the court has now rejected the argument, denying their appeals and ordering the pair serve sentences of life imprisonment.

“Trafficking occurs when individuals are recruited, transported, or transferred – regardless of consent or knowledge – under threats, coercion, deception, or abuse of power, for exploitative purposes such as prostitution, forced labour, slavery, or removal or sale of organs,” the court found.

“The crime is classified as qualified trafficking when the victims are minors, which carries a life sentence.”

Originally published as Australian man labelled world’s worst pedophile to die in jail