Philippines signals it wants to bring back death penalty just so it can execute Australian alleged paedophile

Australian Peter Scully under investigation for a total of 75 charges

Peter Scully (right) leaves court handcuffed to another inmate on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao in June last year

Prosecutors in the Philippines are calling for the death penalty to be reintroduced as punishment for alleged Australian child rapist Peter Scully.

Mr Scully, 52, is accused of directing horrific videos involving rape and torture and selling them through the dark web. He is being investigated for a total of 75 charges, including the alleged rape of an 18-month-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty.

"If I had my choice it would be death for Scully. I want it to happen," chief prosecutor Jaime Umpa said, according to Fairfax Media.

He added: "We have to send a strong message to others that if they come to the Philippines and torture and abuse our children in this way they will be investigated with the full force of the law, and executed."

Peter Scully of Australia arrives at court in the Philippines last year (STR/AFP/Getty) (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, a court heard that Mr Scully allegedly directed a video called “Daisy's Destruction”, which shows a baby girl being sexually assaulted and physically abused, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Police also accuse Mr Scully of burying an 11-year-old under the floor of a house he was renting after he made a video of him raping her then strangling her to death, news.com.au reports.

Two of his victims were allegedly recorded digging their own graves while being continually raped. "They were the most devastating thing I have ever seen," Ruby Malanog, one of the two lawyers prosecuting Mr Scully, said.

"I cried when I was watching them," she added. "It was hard to believe what I was seeing ... that somebody could do those things to children."

Mr Umpa said that unless the death penalty was reintroduced, prosecutors would push for Scully to be given a maximum life sentence for human trafficking, in addition to 10 years for each of the five sexual abuse charges – a total of 100 years in jail. However, Philippine law means Mr Scully would be released after serving 30 years and deported to Australia for the rest of his sentence.

Capital punishment was outlawed in the Philippines in 2006 following opposition from the Catholic Church, but President Rodrigo Duterte, who has built a controversial “tough on crime” reputation that includes encouraging the vigilante murders of drug users, has called for criminals who commit serious crimes including rape to be executed.