How an AFP detective is rescuing kids from horrific child exploitation overseas
Pedophile “facilitators” overseas are cashing in on a sickening demand for online child abuse content, fuelled by demand from Australian predators. But one Aussie cop has made it her business to take them down.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Creeping between gravestones inside a Manila cemetery, Detective Sergeant Daisie Beckensall was about to come face-to-face with a pedophile who had buried himself among the dead to keep his online abuse network a secret.
The Australian Federal Police child protection liaison officer was with Filipino investigators, scouring the graveyard for a makeshift hut the man had built from scraps before they launched a raid on the hidden structure.
That man was allegedly just one of the many “facilitators” in the Philippines who had been cashing in on sickening demand for child abuse videos fuelled by Australian predators who pay as little as $20 to access horrific livestreamed abuse.
“Perpetrators realise that it’s so much easier to be online – it’s a lot cheaper, you don’t have to buy a plane ticket and travel. It saves you time,” Detective Sergeant Beckensall told the Herald Sun.
“It’s considered relatively a lower risk … on a video call right on a WhatsApp or a FaceTime, it doesn’t need to be recorded.”
Detective Sergeant Beckensall, 51, has helped Filipino authorities bring down predators from her team’s base in Manila for the past four years.
She said the volume of money coming into the country from Australia meant that while predators were often paying to exploit children from the other side of the world, her team needed to be on the ground to catch those exploiting young children and filming the horrific content.
But she said it was just as easy for Australian abusers to terrorise their victims face to face.
“We have lots of direct flights from major capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth – flying direct to the Philippines,” she said
“It’s only one flight that we need to take and there is a really high prevalence of English language.”
Detective Sergeant Beckensall said as a result, she has witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of sexual abuse on young children.
Some of the most horrific abuse carried out by an Australian in the Philippines was at the hands of convicted child sex offender Peter Scully.
He was handed a life sentence for raping dozens of children and was also charged with murdering a 12-year-old Filipina girl, but Detective Sergeant Beckensall said it was often difficult to track down predators who flew to the country.
“(For) the people who are travelling, it’s very hard to detect because they don’t have criminal history,” she said.
In many cases, girls and boys were being beamed on to abuser’s screens by those closest to them.
“Here, a lot of the facilitators are actually family members – mothers, sisters, aunties – it’s a lot of females, actually, who are the facilitators,” Detective Sergeant Beckensall said.
“It starts off benign, like you would meet someone on Facebook or a dating site, or in a group setting and then they get taken offline and that’s where the private conversations continue.”
In one harrowing case, a 37-year-old woman and her six-year-old daughter vanished after Australian and Filipino authorities arrested the woman’s 19-year-old boyfriend for allegedly filming abuse of the young girl to sell.
The mother remained on the run for more than six months before authorities tracked her down and placed her daughter in rescue accommodation with other young girls who had been abused.
The predator hiding among the graves has stuck in Detective Sergeant Beckensall’s mind as one of the most unusual raids she has been involved in.
“We get to see the living environments where the facilitators are,” she said.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be on a search warrant like this again … This is where the facilitators live. They’re squatters and they just build whatever shelter that they can, in whichever land that they can find.”
Many of the tip-offs alleging abuse received by Detective Sergeant Beckensall, her adviser and intelligence analyst have been investigated alongside the Philippine’s national police and federal investigators through the Philippine internet Crimes Against Children Centre – a joint initiative established by multiple international agencies, including AFP, in 2019.
With Australians flagged as “major offenders” in the country, almost 300 children have been rescued as a direct result of AFP’s collaboration with Filipino authorities.
Cases have often continued after a major sting for investigators, including Detective Sergeant Beckensall, who have helped improve the living conditions for young girls in the emergency accommodation centres.
About 800 children have been removed from harm overall, while 172 suspected pedophiles have faced charges.
Detective Sergeant Beckensall first signed on with the Australian Federal Police in 1999, with experience spanning organised crime, narcotics and joint counter-terrorism.
She will return home to Melbourne in the coming months to head up the AFP’s human trafficking team after her “rewarding” work overseas.
“It’s really hard,” she said.
“Part of our work is that we actually get to visit shelters which house victims of child sexual exploitation as well … being able to physically see that is actually quite rewarding.”
Anyone with information about suspected child abuse can visit accce.gov.au.
Originally published as How an AFP detective is rescuing kids from horrific child exploitation overseas
Footy fans told to arrive at Anzac Day clash three hours early as security ramps up
The MCG has beefed up security measures for the Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood — and fans have been warned to get to the stadium three hours before the blockbuster.
‘Taking the piss’: Non-binary netball player competing in men, women’s matches
Frustrated suburban netballers are calling for a non-binary player to choose a division after learning they have been competing in both men’s and women’s teams.