When Briella’s aunt took a picture of her at the beach, the innocent girl could not have imagined that a close and trusted relative would broadcast that happy moment to foreign men, including Australians, to sexually exploit her.

But following that fun family gathering, Briella’s paternal aunt began cybersex-trafficking the girl, her younger sisters and their cousins ​​from their home in the Philippines province of Cebu.

Speaking exclusively to The Nightly this week, Briella – a pseudonym – said the betrayal “changed the course of our lives”.

“Being the oldest of four sisters, I felt a deep responsibility for my siblings, and witnessing their pain was incredibly difficult,” she said.

“I had no idea she actually sent it to a stranger.

“My sister actually saw the stranger on the cellphone and said ‘hello’ because my aunt told her ‘you have to say hello to the stranger.’

For years, Brielle’s aunt took advantage of vulnerable children and the country’s booming cybersex industry, facilitating child sexual abuse broadcast live over social media platforms including Skype and Facebook Messenger.

This Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) involves the sexual abuse of children in real time via video call for paying perpetrators who watch the heinous crimes from the comfort and privacy of their homes in Western countries including Australia.

Another adult – who is physically present with the child – facilitates the abuse, which is usually broadcast live from developing countries such as the Philippines.

Facilitators can be anyone who has access to children, including parents, relatives and neighbours.

In Briella’s case, the facilitator was her aunt.

Briella’s social worker, from the International Justice Mission, told The Nightly that Briella’s aunt has many clients from all over the world.

“He had a lot of foreign friends and clients. . . Australians, Americans, Canadians,” she said.

“The international lawmen have been looking for her. . . they had been investigating her for a very long time.

“I think it took them three years to find her.”

The Philippines is a hot spot for online child sexual exploitation and unfortunately Australia is in the top three countries for consuming child sexual abuse streamed live from the Philippines.

The Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC) of the Philippine National Police and IJM – a global organization that protects impoverished people from violence – spent years trying to identify Briella, other victims and their facilitator after receiving a tip from to an international partner.

But besides the fact that abuse is rarely downloaded or stored, Briella’s aunt covered her tracks.

“For me, he used different laptops, so he borrowed devices,” Briella said.

“He moved from one place to another.

“She used Skype and Facebook Messenger.”

Finally, in June 2018, the police identified Briella’s aunt and a police operation – led by members of the PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group – was launched in Cordova.

During the raid, authorities caught the sex trafficker instructing two victims to perform explicit acts that she broadcast live to pay overseas predators, according to local media reports.

“We were actually neighbors, so when I saw her, she was in handcuffs,” Briella said.

“Before that happened, I heard some voices, policemen shouting, ‘Who is this?’ Who is this?’

“The police looked at me in the window and said, ‘What’s your name?’

“I said ‘I’m Briella’

“He said, ‘Are you sure you’re Briella?’ You have the same face as the girl in the picture’”.

IJM and government social workers escorted the children to the vans with scarves covering their faces to protect them from neighbors, onlookers and the media.

They encouraged Briella, then 14, to come with them.

“For me, at that moment, I felt a shock. I didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

“They put a cover over my head (because) there was press there who knew it was a rescue operation.

“I had no idea my sisters were already in the van.”

Briella’s sisters – then aged between 4 and 12 – had already been taken to safety.

Their abusers’ two sons, aged 2 and 5, were also removed because they were considered “children at risk”.

“When I get in the van, I see my cousins, my only neighbor and my two sisters,” Briella said.

“I ask them ‘why are you here?’

“They were actually crying and asking for help.”

The traumatized children were referred to a shelter for custody and protective care, where they were safe for the first time in their young lives.

“When my sisters and I were first rescued, I thought we were going to go home right away,” Briella said.

“But when we got to the shelter, I remember looking out the window and seeing many children gathered there, watching us.

“For me it was very difficult because I see different kids, different cases and I see that they are actually struggling too.”

Briella’s aunt, 23, was arrested that day and charged with attempted trafficking and aiding or abetting the commission of cybercrime. She quickly pleaded guilty.

On the day of her sentencing, Briella and her fellow victims saw their abuser for the first and last time since her arrest when they attended a “reconciliation meeting” with her in the judge’s office in their desperate bid for “closure ” elusive.

It was a traumatic scene where the children, still terrified of their aunt, were all crying. One hid in a corner, while another hid behind the prosecutor. Briella clung to her social worker IJM.

“The only thing she said was like, ‘Please forgive me for what I did to you.’ It’s not on purpose,” Briella recalled.

“It’s the only thing I remember.

“I never want to see her again.”

The woman was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

After more than a year of living at the shelter—a safe haven where the children could recuperate, rebuild their confidence, and receive targeted therapy—Briella, along with her sisters and their cousins, were able to return to their community, reintegrate and return to school. .

Briella is now trying to build a better life for herself and her son.

The 21-year-old is studying hospitality management at university and dreams of opening her own restaurant.

She also became an advocate for other survivors like herself and launched the Philippine Survivor Network.

“For me, since I actually started campaigning in the Philippines, it’s been a good thing for me because I have a passion,” she said.

“I have to share my story and advocate because I have to show the children who are still suffering in silence.

“It was encouraging.”

The young mother continues to receive ongoing support from IJM, which provides legal and logistical assistance to the local police, as well as aftercare for the survivors of the victims.

IJM’s Scale of Harm study, published last year, revealed that the average age of trafficking victims at the time of law enforcement intervention is only 11 years old.

However, IJM supported the Philippine police in rescuing victims under one year old.

The report also reveals that children are usually abused for an average of two years, but sometimes up to four years, causing them severe psychological distress.

IJM is also working with international partners, including the Australian Federal Police, to fight OSAEC.

Tackling child exploitation, here and overseas, is a key priority for the AFP and its Australian Child Exploitation Centre.

In the past week alone, two Northern Territory men have been charged with accessing and possessing child abuse material involving overseas children.

Last week the NT Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team charged a 37-year-old man with three counts of possessing child abuse material and three counts of using a transport service to access child abuse material .

That investigation began when NT JACET received an AFP intelligence report about an Australian-based individual sending money to a known facilitator of child exploitation in the Philippines.

AFP investigators would have linked the 37-year-old man to illegal online activity.

In a second, separate and unrelated matter, the ACCCE received a report in October from an online dating site about a man allegedly soliciting child abuse material online.

It is alleged that this report was of an individual attempting to procure child abuse material from a mother and young child in a foreign country.

NT JACET executed a search warrant at the home of a 66-year-old man last week.

He was then charged with one count of grooming a person to facilitate engaging in sexual activity with a child outside Australia, one count of accessing child abuse material and two counts of possessing child abuse material.

The maximum penalty for each of the offenses is 15 years in prison.

Both men are due back in Darwin Local Court this week.

AFP Superintendent Gregory Davis said the AFP, along with its state and territory law enforcement partners, remained committed to protecting children.

“Anyone who sees this material is committing a crime,” they are. Gregory Davis said.

“Our message to online criminals has not changed. If you procure, access and transmit child abuse material, you will be found, arrested and prosecuted.”

NT Police Detective Sergeant Duane Commander said anyone who sees this abhorrent material is committing a serious crime and “will face the full force of the law”.

Report child sexual abuse

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE at www.accce.gov.au/report.

If you know abuse is happening at the moment or if a child is in danger, call the police immediately on 000.