true crime

'Savage Girl.' The secret, luxurious life of Peter Scully's girlfriend and accomplice.

When police arrested one one of Australia’s most dangerous men, they let his accomplice and girlfriend walk free.

After a four-year global manhunt, Australian predator and paedophile Peter Scully was arrested in the Philippines in 2015 by authorities after committing what they claimed were the “most horrific” crimes imaginable. He had been running a global paedophile ring and distributing videos for payment online.

With him came former live-in partner, girlfriend, accomplice and former sex worker Liezyl Margallo. At the time, authorities let her go because they were yet to gather strong evidence against her.

Months later police discovered that Margallo was the masked and naked woman shown in a video of Scully’s called Daisy’s Destruction and embarked on a 12 month search to find her. The video shows an 18-month old baby girl tied by her feet upside down while being sexually assaulted.

Now, just weeks after police arrested her in Cebu City, it's been revealed the 23-year-old was masquerading as a woman called Shannon Carpio, attending parties and travelling across the world despite the 16 outstanding arrest warrants in her name, Cebu Daily News reports.

Her social media accounts make no effort to hide her face. Although masquerading under the name Shannon Carpio, Margallo posed on beaches and in selfies, seemingly blasé at the manhunt following her.

News Corp similarly report that following Scully's arrest, Margallo continued their illegal business of recruiting potential victims for rape and torture films, and that her luxurious lifestyle was financed by Scully’s international cyber-pornography trade which he continued to manage from prison.

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Margallo faces charges of human child abuse after luring children with the promise of food or money and, with Scully, subsequently raping and torturing them.

According to Fairfax, a lead investigator in the case, Dominador Cimafranca, told reporters said Margallo is "a savage girl for what she has done to the kids".

Despite this, lawyer Janet Francisco, head of the Manila-based NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division, told Cebu Daily News in January that Margallo had expressed remorse for her actions.

“I sat down with her and she told me she regretted everything she did to the kids.

“She has to answer for everything she committed against the children. Inasmuch as we pity her, justice must be served,” she said.

In 2015, 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown travelled to Manila to interview Scully. Talking to News Corp at the time, she said she felt “shaken from the moment I started following the story”. Adding that, “It was completely impossible to relate to him, because he was so detached.”

Scully and Margallo's trials are expected to take years because of the Philippine's judicial system.