MANILA — The Supreme Court has affirmed the life imprisonment sentence of Australian pedophile Peter Gerald Scully and Carme Ann Alvarez for the recruitment of two minors who were made to perform sexual acts with them in 2014.

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In the decision of the 2nd Division promulgated on November 26, 2024, the court upheld the guilty verdict against the two handed down by the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.

The high court noted that Scully and Alvarez sexually exploited two girls who were then aged 9 and 12 while documenting their sexual acts using a laptop.

The court further noted that Scully and Alvarez argued that their acts do not constitute trafficking because they lured the girls to satisfy their own lust and not of others.

“Contrary to accused-appellants’ arguments, all the elements of qualified trafficking in persons are present in this case,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez. 

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The court noted that the crime of trafficking immediately becomes qualified if the trafficked person are children who were unable to fully take care or protect themselves from abuse, cruelty  or exploitation.

The court also emphasized that the essence of trafficking is the act of recruitment, with or without consent of the victim.

The court also said Scully and Alvarez are not cleared of guilt just because no pornographic material was found.

Aside from life imprisonment, Scully and Alvarez were ordered to pay a fine of P5 million and pay each of the victims P600,000 for damages.

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