The three men arrested for the death in the hotel of a flight attendant in the Philippines were released from custody on Wednesday – while prosecutors criticized the lack of evidence that she had been raped or murdered.
The trio – the only prisoners among 11 accused of the death of Christine Angelica Dacera after a New Year’s party at their hotel – were released when prosecutors returned the case to Makati City, which they prematurely considered a “settled case”, CNN said.
Prosecutors insisted that “the evidence presented so far is insufficient to establish that she was sexually abused or raped” – and, if so, which of the group that partyed with her was responsible, with many of the 11 saying they are gay.
They also insisted that even though the 23-year-old Filipino attendant had been raped, the police had not yet shown that it caused her death after she was found unconscious in her empty bathtub on January 1.
Attorney General Benedicto Malcontento gave the police until Jan. 13 to present stronger evidence, asking for DNA and toxicology results.
An initial autopsy suggested that Dacera died of “a ruptured aortic aneurysm” and made no mention of seminal fluids, CNN said.
The decision allowed John Pascual Dela Serna III, Rommel Galido and John Paul Halili to go free on Wednesday.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” Halil told CNN through tears. Galido said that the dead attendant was “like a brother to me”, insisting: “I love her very much”.
The other eight suspects who partied with them were not yet arrested before Wednesday’s decision. All 11 faced a provisional charge of rape with homicide after the head of the local police said that everyone present was responsible for not protecting Dacera, saying that “an act of one is an act of all”.
At least one of the suspects mentioned, Gregorio de Guzman – son of well-known Filipino singer Claire dela Fuente – insisted that most of the men there were gay.
“How did it become a rape? I am gay I have never had sex with any woman in my life, ”Guzman told ABS-CBN TV, saying that up to eight out of 11 were“ probably gay like us ”.
He insisted that he only remembered Dacera being “happy” at the party, after applying it to cardiopulmonary resuscitation the next morning, after discovering her unconscious in her room’s tub at the City Garden Grand Hotel.
Dacera was a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines (PAL) Express, who said she “regrets the tragic death”.