The three men arrested for the hotel death of a flight attendant in the Philippines were released on Wednesday – when prosecutors condemned the lack of evidence that she had been raped or murdered.
The trio – the only ones arrested of the 11 charged with the death of Christine Angelica Dacera after a New Year’s Eve party at her hotel – were released when prosecutors threw the case back to Makati City, which had prematurely ruled it a “ settled case. ‘was, CNN said.
Prosecutors insisted that “the evidence submitted so far is insufficient to establish that she was sexually assaulted or raped” – and if so, which of her partying group was responsible, with many of the eleven saying they are gay .
They also insisted that even if the 23-year-old Filipino servant had been raped, police had yet to prove it caused her death after she was found unconscious in the empty bathtub of her room on January 1.
Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento gave the police until January 13 to come up with stronger evidence, asking for DNA and toxicology results.
An initial autopsy suggested that Dacera died of “ruptured aortic aneurysm,” and made no mention of seminal fluids, CNN said.
The ruling allowed John Pascual Dela Serna III, Rommel Galido and John Paul Halili to run free on Wednesday.
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” Halil told CNN through tears. Galido said the dead caretaker was “like a sibling to me,” and insisted, “I love her very much.”
The remaining eight suspects who had partied with them had to be arrested before Wednesday’s ruling. All 11 were provisionally charged with rape and murder after the local police chief said all those present were responsible for not protecting Dacera, saying that “one act of one is an act of all”.
At least one of the named suspects, Gregorio de Guzman – the son of well-known Filipino singer Claire dela Fuente – insisted that most of the men there were gay.
“How did it become rape? I am gay. I’ve never had sex with a woman in my life, “Guzman told ABS-CBN TV, saying that up to eight out of eleven were” probably gay like us. “
He insisted that he only remembered that Dacera was “ happy ” at the party and gave her CPR the next morning after discovering her passed out in the bathtub of her room at the City Garden Grand Hotel.
Dacera was a flight attendant at Philippine Airlines (PAL) Express, who said it was “mourning the tragic death”.