Aunt Receives 40 Years’ Jail for Livestreaming Sexual Abuse of 6-Year-Old Niece

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7th March, 2024

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – A woman who livestreamed the sexual abuse of her six-year-old
niece will spend up to 40 years in prison, after the Supreme Court upheld the decision
of a lower court that found her guilty.

In 2020, the offender was to face reclusion perpetua (a form of imprisonment that carries a jail time that ranges between 20 years and one day to 40 years) and ordered her to pay a fine of 2 million pesos (about A$54,857) and civil damages amounting to 300,000 pesos (about A$8,200).

Assistant City Prosecutor Anthony Aloysius Manalang of Angeles City said:

“Serious legal consequences await anyone who sexually abuses and exploits children online.
May this conviction, and the many others achieved in the past, remind would-be perpetrators that
the Philippine criminal justice system does not take lightly this grave offense against our
precious children.”

Operatives from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division arrested the offender in 2016, following an investigation that stemmed from a tip from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. They rescued her six-year-old niece, who disclosed her abuse and was seen in child sexual abuse and exploitation materials retrieved from the perpetrator’s residence. Authorities also brought to safety the child’s younger brother and the culprit’s own daughter who were considered at-risk minors. IJM supported the Office of the City Prosecutor of Angeles City to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Attorney Kathleen Joy Piccio-Labay, IJM Manila’s Head of Prosecution Development shared:

“During one of our briefings at a shelter, [the six-year-old victim] shared that she allowed her aunt to abuse and exploit her because the former threatened to hurt and sexually abuse her brother as well if she didn’t comply.

This is a hidden face of modern-day slavery.

A child already knew that she was being preyed on by a family member and she detested it. She was forced to obey and continued working against her will in order to save and protect her younger brother from meeting the same fate, until the day arrived when they were finally rescued.”

To date, IJM has supported Philippine authorities in bringing more than 1,200 victims and children-at-risk to safety and in apprehending 386 suspected perpetrators, at least 223 of whom have been convicted.

Note to Editors:

The Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, also known as the Luxembourg Guidelines, prescribes the use of the term “child sexual abuse material” or “child sexual exploitation material” instead of “child pornography”. Sexualised material that depicts or otherwise represents children is a representation, and a form, of child sexual abuse and should not be described as “pornography.”