Aussie in child abuse cases back in De Oro

PETER Gerard Scully being brought to the Lumbia City Jail in Cagayan de Oro where he would be detained while facing charges of child abuse and trafficking. BOBBY LAGSA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Australian Peter Scully, who has been accused of pedophilia and human trafficking, had been brought back here from Manila on Tuesday.

Officials said Scully, who is also facing murder charges, will be in the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) here as a court is set to hear the charges against him.

Scully was arrested on Feb. 20 in Malaybalay City by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation, the police’s Criminal Detection and Investigation Group, Dutch and Australian police forces and the International Police Organization (Interpol) using a warrant issued by a local judge for rape and human trafficking.

The suspected pedophile’s activities had caught international attention after he posted and sold videos of him having sex with minors on the Internet.

Angelito Magno, NBI director for Northern Mindanao, said Scully’s return here was part of the legal process in connection with the warrant issued by Regional trial Court Branch 37 Judge Jose Escobido.

“We are going to file additional charges against Scully,” he said, adding that six more victims had pledge to cooperate.

Magno said the NBI is also preparing murder charges against the Australian for the death of a girl from Talakag, Bukidnon.

The girl’s remains were unearthed in Surigao City on Feb. 25.

Magno said Scully’s former live-in partner, Carme Ann Alvarez, who had been charged and arrested as an accomplice in the 2014 rape and trafficking cases against Scully, had offered to become a state witness.

Scully said he still does not have a lawyer and didn’t know if the Australian Embassy would provide him one.

He would not comment on the charges against him. Bobby Lagsa, Inquirer Mindanao