By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
IN a surprise move, the defense lawyer in the case against suspected Australian pedophile Peter Gerald Scully turned the tables on the prosecution by arguing that his client was the “least guilty,” and that he should be allowed to testify against the woman who the state plans to use as primary witness.
In a nine-page motion, Scully’s lawyer Alejandro Jose Pallugna asked Judge Jose Escobido of the 37th branch of the Regional Trial Court here to turn the Australian into a state witness against his former live-in partner Carme Ann “Honey Sweet” Alvarez, a move that startled prosecutors.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has charged Scully and Alvarez of abusing two girls in a rented house at Apovel Subdivision in Bulua, this city, last year. The girls were allegedly picked up by Alvarez near Gaisano Mall, and then brought to the Bulua house where they were allegedly held, chained at times, sexually abused, and made to dig what would have been their grave.
The NBI said videos of the girls being abused by the foreigner from Melbourne, Australia, were uploaded on the Internet.
Scully was arrested by the NBI in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, in Feb. 20 on orders of Escobido. The 51-year old Scully has since been detained at the Lumbia jail, and he has pleaded not guilty in court last month. Pallugna said under normal circumstances, courts decide on who can become state witnesses on the recommendation of prosecutors. But the Scully case is different, he said, because “the facts of the case show that Scully is the least guilty.”
He told the Gold Star Daily that the prosecution has yet to comment on his motion for the court to turn the Australian into a state witness.
He argued that there is no court rule that prevents judges from doing this. “It’s the discretion of the court,” Pallugna said.
If Pallugna succeeds in convincing Judge Escobido, Alvarez, Scully’s former live-in partner and likely prosecution witness, would find herself the only one being tried in court for human trafficking and sexual assault.
Pallugna has argued that Alvarez is the “most guilty,” and not Scully based on the accounts.
Based on the facts of the case, Pallugna asserted: “It was Honey Sweet [Alvarez] who initiated the trafficking of the private offended parties by luring them into coming with her, and she was the one who fed them, commanded them to take a bath, have them take alcoholic drinks, dig, and who ordered them not to leave the house.”
He said he talked with Scully and the Australian was willing to testify against Alvarez. Pallugna said Scully’s testimony is needed by prosecutors if they really want the truth to come out.
“It would be the only testimony available which can complete the whole story and provide the court with indispensable information as to the fact that co-accused Honey Sweet is a human trafficker and a sexual offender,” he said.
Pallugna accused Alvarez of being the mastermind and the “primary executor of all the acts” being blamed on Scully.
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