By AP
A court has sentenced an Australian man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty on human trafficking and child pornography charges.
Drew Frederick Shobbrook listened quietly as the verdict was read in a court in Cebu City on Tuesday. Filipina Leslie Ann Fernandez, a co-accused in the case who was also sentenced to life, cried next to Shobbrook.
Both were arrested during a 2013 operation in which 15 girls were rescued by authorities.
According to the International Justice Mission, a global organization that partners with local authorities to fight human trafficking and child sexual abuse, the accused used the girls for pornographic images and videos that he then distributed online.
The girls also testified that he offered them to other foreigners for sexual exploitation, according to the IJM.
