In 2015 Peter Gerard Scully was charged with a long list of 75 offences, including abduction, rape, and murder – he also reportedly made videos depicting the abuse and torture of children and babies. He has plead not guilty.
Peter Scully has received $500,000 of Australian taxpayer money for his legal bills, given to him by the federal government under a program called the Serious Criminal Matters Scheme, reports The Australian.
When questioned about the funding decision, Christian Porter, the Attorney-General, explained it was a decision made before he took over the role.
“I had already asked my department for information on the scheme, including this particular case, with a view to considering changes to the scheme, so that persons in circumstances similar to Mr Scully, or those with histories of sexual offending and ¬relevant convictions, would no longer be eligible,” he told Nine News.
The Serious Criminal Matters Scheme is a program only available to Australian’s facing the death penalty, or more than 20 years imprisonment, providing the legal funding needed to fight serious overseas charges.
The Bali Nine were previous recipients of the program.
Scully is said to have left Australia for the Philippines in 2011, fleeing from fraud charges in the state of Victoria.
In 2015, Scully’s case featured on 60 Minutes, with reporter Tara Brown speaking to directly to Scully who said he was trying to figure out “what drove him to it” as he was never like that in Australia.
An Australian Federal Police officer was interviewed about Scully’s case; he said the man was:
“I’ve worked in nine different countries, I’ve worked in a lot of different jobs, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
It took a global manhunt to a capture Scully, after his accent was picked up in one of the videos recording his alleged abuse of women and children as young as two.
