Internet user charged with child abuse, grave threats

CHARGES of child abuse and grave threats were filed against the 24-year-old man accused of blackmailing a 16-year-old Filipino-Japanese girl by posting her seminude photos online.

Bail of P104,000 was recommended for John Jayson Antonio.

Antonio was escorted by National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) agents when he was presented before the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City.

Assistant City Prosecutor Mario Ley Gidayawan said there was no basis to file a charge of robbery-extortion.

“Child abuse includes any act by deeds or words which debases and degrades the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being. The act of blackmail gravely threatened the normal development of the complainant, a young and helpless girl,” Gidayawan said.

When sought for comment, Antonio covered his face with a white towel and declined to say anything.

But he admitted to the NBI-7 agents that he made up stories to extort money and demand sexual favors from the victim.

Antonio, a resident of barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City, was arrested by NBI 7 agents in an entrapment operation inside a mall last Tuesday afternoon.

A 16-year-old student sought the assistance of the NBI-7 after Antonio allegedly demanded that she pay him P15,000 so her photos won’t be uploaded on the Internet.

The prosecutor said the act of threatening the victim was a form of child abuse. /Ador Vincent S. Mayol