SC affirms conviction of child pornographer

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THE Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) convicting a child pornographer who was arrested following a tip from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In an en banc decision, the High Court sentenced Luisa Pineda to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P2 million.

Pineda, who was convicted for child pornography with the use of computers, was also made to pay the victim P300,000 in civil damages.

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The defendant was arrested by operatives of the PNP Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division who conducted a surveillance of her house following a tip from the US FBI.

Armed with a search warrant, the police officers found, among others, a computer set and cellphone with nude photos and videos of Pineda’s six-year-old niece.

The police officers were also able to rescue three minors whose custodies were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Court records showed that the six-year-old victim was left under the custody of Pineda after her parents separated. The victim has alleged that the accused ordered her to enter a room, remove her clothes, and stand naked in front of a computer monitor with a webcam where her private parts were exposed to an unidentified old man.

Pineda likewise allegedly took pictures and videos of her niece in two separate occasions where she was made to touch her genitalia in front of a computer screen.

The police charged Pineda for violations of Sections 4 (a), (b), (c) of Republic Act 9775, or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Pineda was found guilty by a trial court, prompting her to appeal to the CA, which she also lost. She then elevated the case to the SC.

In affirming the RTC and CA’s rulings, the High Court said it found all the elements of child pornography under RA 9775 present in Pineda’s case.

Under Sections 4(a), (b), and (c) of RA 9775, the elements of child pornography are the following: the victim is below 18 years old or over but unable to fully take care of himself or herself; the offender either hires, employs, uses, persuades, induces or coerces a child to perform in the creation or production of any form of child pornography; or produces, directs, manufactures or creates any form of child pornography; or publishes, offers, transmits, sells, distributes, broadcasts, advertises, promotes, exports or imports any form of child pornography; and the child’s sexual activities were represented through visual, audio, or written combination, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic, or any other means.

The SC held that in the present case, the prosecution was able to establish that the victim was only six years old at the time of the incident and that Pineda ordered the child to remove her clothes and stand naked while touching her genitalia in front of a computer exposing her private parts to male customers watching online.

“This was supported by the victim’s testimony, as well as the results of the digital forensic examination of the computer set and cellphone seized from Pineda’s residence, where the police retrieved multiple naked pictures and explicit video clips of the victim,” the SC said.

Also recovered by the police was an online conversation between Pineda and a foreign customer on the sale of the victim’s nude photos and videos.

“Clearly, Pineda committed the prohibited acts in RA 9775 when she persuaded, induced, and coerced her niece to perform in the creation of nude photos and videos, and when she subsequently offered to sell these child pornographic materials,” the SC added.

The SC has yet to release the full copy of the decision.

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