'Brutal' twist after flight attendant found dead in luxury hotel bath
Eleven men have been charged with rape and murder after a flight attendant was found dead in a hotel bathtub on New Year’s Day.
Christine Angelica Dacera, who worked for Philippine Airlines, had spent the night prior celebrating the new year with friends at the City Garden Hotel in Makati, Phillipines.
One of the 23-year-old’s colleagues, Rommel Galida, woke up at around 10am and noticed her asleep in the bath.
He covered her with a blanket before going back to sleep.
When Galida woke up several hours later, he found she was still unconscious and starting to turn blue.
Her friends and hotel staffers performed CPR before rushing her to the Makati Medical Clinic where doctor’s pronounced her dead.
Police believe woman was gang raped and killed
Although initial reports suggested the young flight attendant had died from an aneurysm, Makati police told the Philippine Daily Inquirer they believe she had been gang raped and killed.
Makati City police chief Col. Harold Depositar told the publication Ms Dacera had “lacerations and sperm in her genitalia”.
He also said contusions, bruising and scratches were found on her arms and legs.
Of the 11 suspects charged, three were the 23-year-old’s friends, and all are believed to have attended a party with Ms Dacera, Col. Depositar told News Strait Times.
Her three friends have been arrested, but the other eight men, who police stayed in the two rooms adjacent to Ms Dacera, have not been found.
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"The others were practically strangers to her, as they were only known to her three friends,” Col. Depositar said.
The rape and homicide charges are provisional depending on an official autopsy and toxicology results.
Ms Dacera’s mum Sharon has called for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s help in seeking justice for her daughter.
“I am just an ordinary person. Ma’am Sara Duterte, you are also a mom. You have a daughter too,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“That is why I want to come out in the open because I don’t want that somebody will be a victim by this kind of brutality, barbaric.”
Sharon has vowed to keep fighting for the beloved 23-year-old.
“You treated her like a pig. I don’t want this to happen to another woman who will be treated like that,” she said.
“That is why I will fight for my daughter’s case.”
with Australscope
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