A Philippine Airlines flight attendant died after being raped at a New Year’s party – and all 11 men who were with her were charged with rape and murder, it was revealed Tuesday.
Christine Angelica Dacera, 23, was found unconscious in the empty bathtub in her room at the City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati City in early January 1, said The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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Friends and hotel staff took the Filipino flight attendant to a nearby hospital, where she was later declared dead, officials told the newspaper.
She initially appeared to have died of an aneurysm, but police said she also had “lacerations and sperm on her genitalia”, as well as scratches on her arms and legs.
Dacera, 23, was a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines (PAL) Express.
(Christine Angelica Dacera @xtinedacera)
“Based on the initial investigation, sexual abuse took place,” National Police spokesman for the Philippines, Brig. General Ilderbrandi Usana told the newspaper.
Makati city police on Monday opened a provisional rape charge with homicide against 11 men who were with her during the party, the newspaper said. The charges are provisional, as the authorities are still awaiting the final results of the autopsy and toxicology.
Three of the suspects were arrested while the others were still being hunted, Makati city chief of police Colonel Harold Deposita told the Daily Inquirer.
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“Only three of them were friends of Dacera. The others were practically strangers to her, as they were known only to her three friends,” said the police chief.
He told CNN Philippines that the suspects had “conflicting” stories – with some even saying they were gay.
But the police chief insisted that everyone in the room was equally responsible for refusing to prevent the fatal rape of Dacera, who was from neighboring South Cotabato.
“They just let it happen. They could have stopped it,” he told Balitaan, according to CNN. “This is a classic example that an act of one is an act of all.”
The police chief insisted that the “force” would still be to blame, even if further tests confirm that she had an aneurysm.
“Certainly, there was strength in the body. These bruises, abrasions, this laceration … this is not normal in sexual intercourse,” he told CNN.
Dacera was a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines (PAL) Express, who said she “regrets the tragic death”.
“Our desire is for the truth to be revealed in the interests of justice,” the company told the newspaper on Tuesday.
Her mother, Sharon Dacera, appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte, saying that her daughter had been “treated like a pig” in the “barbaric” crime.
“Christine does not deserve this brutality … they need to be punished,” said the grieving mother, according to the Daily Inquirer.
The family’s lawyer, José Ledda, denied that the flight attendant had died of drunk and consensual sex.
“If it was consensual or voluntary, why isn’t Christine here to answer your questions?” he told CNN.
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Authorities have also revealed that they are investigating the City Garden Grand Hotel, which has been designated a quarantine hotel that has been prevented from allowing guests to party, CNN said.
The Tourism Department wrote threatening to suspend the hotel’s accreditation unless it could give an adequate explanation in three days, according to the letter obtained by the vehicle.
This article first appeared in the New York Post.