The man caught on CCTV footage kissing Filipino flight attendant Christine Dacera in a hotel hallway before she was found dead in a bathtub claims that Dacera “started the kiss with me,” according to a report.
Valentine Rosales, one of 11 men suspected of the 23-year-old’s alleged rape and murder on New Year’s Eve, also said he used to flirt when he drank, reported the Philippine news agency GMA.
“[S]it was he who started the kiss with me, ”Rosales told GMA.
“I was trying to open the door. I rang the bell. She was the one who grabbed me.
“I rang the bell, but I dodged it, avoided it.”
CCTV footage released on Wednesday shows Dacera kissing a man in the hallway of a luxury hotel – where she was later found unresponsive in her bedroom bath.
The GMA reported that a longer version of the footage shared on Rosales’ Facebook account shows him moving away from Dacera shortly after she made a move.
Authorities identified 11 men who were celebrating the New Year with the flight attendant and took three into custody – only for prosecutors to release them later for lack of evidence.
GMA also reported that Dacera’s body was later embalmed without her family’s consent – and before an autopsy could be performed.
Rommel Galido, another friend who was partying with Dacera – and one of the three men briefly detained by the police – told the news service that the flight attendant was occasionally “very naughty” when getting drunk.
But Galido told the Philippine Star that Dacera told him at one point that she believed “someone put something in my drink”.
He said that Dacera was seen vomiting later.
Another of the detained men, Dela Serna, told the GMA that he carried Dacera back to his hotel room around 4 am on January 1 – and that an extended version of the video of the corridor shows him standing up and ringing the bell. .
Makati city police said the investigation into his death continues.