Australian businessman sentenced in Philippines for child sex crimes

[KohSung]

An Australian businessman has been sentenced to three life sentences in prison for operating a child cybersex den and exploiting children in the Philippines. Child welfare advocates have hailed the conviction of Drew Frederick Shobbrook, 51, from Sydney, as a landmark case in efforts to shutdown the Philippines’ booming cybersex industry, which law enforcement agencies say attracts hundreds of Australian paedophiles.

 

John Tanagho, Field Officer Director in Cebu for the International Justice Mission, said the conviction “sends a strong message that if you sexually abuse and exploit Filipino children online and create child pornography you will be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.†

 

 

Shobbrook’s Filipino partner Leslie Ann Fernandez was also sentenced to life imprisonment in a court Cebu on Tuesday. When he was arrested in 2013, Shobbrook claimed he had been running a bookkeeping business, employed seven Filipino staff, and had been living in the Philippines since 2011.

 

“I have been falsely accused,†he said at the time.

 

National Bureau of Investigation agents seized sex toys, used condoms, sex pills, computers and pornographic material from his apartments.

 

The International Justice Mission, a non-profit global organisation that aims to protect the poor from violence, said in a statement that Shobbrook and four “cohorts†allegedly tried to bribe and tamper with witnesses not to testify in his case.

 

Four Filipinos have been charged with witness tampering that carries a possible jail sentence of 15 years.

Philippines authorities say Cebu has become a hub for child sex predators using the dark corners of the internet to attract paedophiles across the world who pay for the live -streaming of the abuse of children as young as two.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has described child cybersex as an epidemic and at any given moment 750,000 child predators are online.

 

Child advocates say predators in the Philippines are taking advantage of improved internet connections and international case transfer systems combined with widespread poverty and easy access to vulnerable children.

Most of the victims are under 12. Often children are sold to predators by their impoverished parents or relatives.

The Australian Parliament last year passed legislation banning 20,000 Australian registered child sex offenders from travelling overseas.

 

But police and some MPs have expressed concern that an unintended consequence of the ban is that paedophiles in Australia could turn to child cybersex. Peter Gerard Scully, a former businessman from Melbourne, is also facing multiple life sentences in the Philippines for what police have described as among the most vile offences against children that have ever been investigated in the country. One of his alleged victims was only 18 months old. Scully has pleaded not guilty in a trial expected to last for years where his alleged child victims are being asked to recount the abuses against them in court.

 

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australian-businessman-sentenced-in-philippines-for-child-sex-crimes/ar-BBJn3iB?ocid=spartanntp

[Rose.]

Good.

[Guest]

Deserved. I have no respect for his kind. Truly disgusted

[benseac]

Pedophiles like this deserve the death sentence. There's no redemption for his ilk.

[sure]

They should castrate these sick fucks.

[_Lucy_]

 "at any given moment 750,000 child predators are online"

 

[Joji.]

They should castrate these sick fucks.