Sun.Star Cebu

PRODUCER OF CRUEL CHILD PORN NABBED

The suspect allegedly helped run a worldwide pedophile operation by making films of children being raped and tortured

- JOHANNA O. BAJENTING / Reporter @JOBajentin­g

Daisy, an 18-month-old toddler, screamed in pain when she was tied upside down while a naked woman in a black mask held a lighted wax over her private parts.

The woman was Liezyl Margallo, 23, a native of Claveria, Cagayan De Oro, Misamis Oriental. She was the live-in partner of Peter Gerard Scully, 54, a known pedophile who gained internatio­nal attention after selling brutal child porn to websites.

"He forced them to do sexual acts while filming them and he sold it to pedophiles in Brazil, Germany, America and other countries. Margallo was also the one who tortures Daisy on the video," said Atty. Janet Francisco, head of the Anti-Human Traffickin­g Division of the National Bureau of Investigat­ion (NBI-AHTRAD).

"Daisy's Destructio­n," a threepart video, which spread in the dark web, shows Margallo torturing and sexually abusing Daisy.

According to Francisco, Margallo helped run Scully's worldwide pedophile operation by making films with him raping and torturing children.

Margallo was caught last Wednesday in Malapascua Island by a team from the central office of the NBI, NBI 7 and the Austra- lian Federal Police (AFP).

"She was most probably hiding from us law enforcers and she's very mobile," NBI 7 Director Atty. Patricio Bernales Jr. told reporters.

She also used different names-Gina Carpio Batulan and Shannon Carpio—based on her identifica­tion cards and passport.

Margallo has 16 outstandin­g warrant of arrests for qualified traffickin­g in persons for violating Republic Act (RA) 9995, or the act that penalizes the crime of photo and voyeurism; RA 7610, the Anti-Child Abuse Law in relation to RA 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Margallo will be turned over to the court in Cagayan De Oro to face the charges.

Scully, dubbed by internatio­nal media as a "predator" and a "monster,” is an Australian national who rented several houses in Cagayan De Oro with Liezyl and his other girlfriend that they used as film locations for their pornograph­ic business that started in 2011.

There, Scully and Margallo lured street children with the promise of free education and food, hiding their real intent of making videos of sadistic child porn, which users paid as much as $10,000 per view, almost half a million pesos.

The horror lasted for four years until Daisy's video spread in the internet and prompted a global manhunt for Scully.

"He has victimized a total of 11 children, all of them were girls and one of which died of too much sexual abuse of the suspect through strangulat­ion and internal hemorrhage," Francisco said.

When she was 19, Margallo had pointed investigat­ors to the apartment in Surigao where Cindy, the 11-year-old girl Scully killed, was buried in 2012.

Margallo had no warrants against her that time.

In 2015, eight children were rescued by authoritie­s including Daisy, who lived to tell the tale of her ordeal.

In February that year, Scully was arrested in his rented house in Malaybalay, Bukidnon. He faces 69 criminal cases and is said to be first in line in case the death penalty is revived. He is detained in a Cagayan De Oro City jail.

Francisco said child pornograph­y in the country as alarming, attributin­g this to poverty, which pushes parents to sell their children to online child molesters.

 ?? SUNSTAR FOTO / ALAN TANGCAWAN ?? CATCHING A MONSTER. Liezyl Margallo (bottom left and above), 23, who had long been wanted for being an accomplice to her Australian boyfriend, Peter Scully (left), for producing porn videos involving children being abused, is arrested in Cebu City.
SUNSTAR FOTO / ALAN TANGCAWAN CATCHING A MONSTER. Liezyl Margallo (bottom left and above), 23, who had long been wanted for being an accomplice to her Australian boyfriend, Peter Scully (left), for producing porn videos involving children being abused, is arrested in Cebu City.
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 ?? SUNSTAR / ALAN TANGCAWAN ?? IN CUSTODY. Liezyl Margallo, 23, hides her face as she is escorted by agents of NBI 7 after her arrest in Malapascua Island last Wednesday. Margallo was the former live-in partner of Peter Gerard Scully, who gained internatio­nal attention after selling...
SUNSTAR / ALAN TANGCAWAN IN CUSTODY. Liezyl Margallo, 23, hides her face as she is escorted by agents of NBI 7 after her arrest in Malapascua Island last Wednesday. Margallo was the former live-in partner of Peter Gerard Scully, who gained internatio­nal attention after selling...

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