Eleven men were charged after gang-raping and murdering a Philippine Airlines flight attendant after a New Year’s Eve party, numerous sources reported.
Christine Angelica Dacera, 23, was found unconscious in an empty hotel bathtub in Makati City, Philippines on New Year’s Day, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Decera later died at the hospital.
Christine Angelica Dacera was found dead at noon on January 1 in the bathtub of her hotel room. https://t.co/ExyIhbeumS
— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) January 4, 2021
A forensics investigation suggested that Dacera had been sexually abused. “The victim had lacerations and sperm in her genitalia,” Makati City Police Chief Col. Harold Depositar told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He added that there were also bruises, contusions, and scratches on her arms and legs, and that her death may have been caused by an aneurysm. Police are waiting for autopsy results in order to understand more clearly how she died. (RELATED: 20-Year-Old Woman Found Breathing After Being Pronounced Dead)
Police filed provisional charges of rape and homicide against 11 men, three of which were Dacera’s friends, the Inquirer reported. The men were with her at the time of the party, and were occupying two hotel rooms next to Dacera’s at the time of her death.
“Only three of them were Dacera’s friends. The others were practically strangers to her, as they were only known to her three friends,” Depositar said, according to the Inquirer.
Police are still searching for eight of the suspects after only the three friends were taken into custody, the Inquirer reported. Authorities gave the suspects who are still at large 72 hours to turn themselves in as of Tuesday, and threatened anyone who may be abetting their escape with arrest.
PNP chief General Debold Sinas gives suspects in Christine Angelica Dacera case 72 hours to surrender. | via @dolandcastro pic.twitter.com/nFmpot964p
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) January 5, 2021
Dacera’s mother pleaded with President Rodrigo Duterte to help bring justice to her daughter’s case in an effort to prevent anyone else from becoming a “victim by this kind of brutality.”
“You treated her like a pig. I don’t want this to happen to another woman who will be treated like that. That is why I will fight for my daughter’s case,” Sharon Ducera said during a press conference Tuesday, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.