A viral video circulating on Facebook and YouTube showing a woman being assaulted outside a hotel room is not an “actual CCTV footage” of the late flight attendant Christine Dacera at a hotel as netizens claim.
It is instead the footage of a woman being attacked at a Beijing hotel in 2016.
The Facebook page Buhay OFw, which was among those who posted the 53-second video on Jan. 5, said its in status update:
VIRAL: ACTUAL CCTV FOOTAGE CHRISTINE DACERA LAST SEEN. #JusticeForChristineDacera #RIPChristineDacera Ctto..of this video.. Fake nga ba or true. Kau na humusga (Is the video fake? You be the judge)...
TinEye’s reverse image search of keyframes in the video led to a post on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, by an account with the username “wanwan_2016” in April 2016.
In a translated version of her post, wanwan, the alleged victim, narrated how hotel staff and bystanders watched indifferently as a stranger assaulted and nearly abducted her.
The South China Morning Post quoted wanwan as saying police also brushed off the attack at Yitel Hotel in Beijing’s 798 Art Zone, which “triggered outrage among mainland internet users.”
BBC News published the story with the same CCTV footage, saying the video had “prompted millions of posts on social media, which have been viewed over two billion times.”
The misleading video was posted hours before the news media released the official hotel CCTV footage of Dacera celebrating at a Makati hotel on New Year’s Day.
Police have filed rape-slaying charges against 11 persons for Dacera’s death and taken three of them into custody. But a Makati prosecutor ordered the three freed, citing insufficient evidence that she was raped then killed.
As of writing, the video posted by Buhay OFw has more than one million views, 9,900 reactions, and 4,200 shares. The personal blog was created in January last year and mainly reposts viral and controversial videos of personalities. (EAM)
References
BUHAY OFw. (2021, January 5). Viral: Actual CCTV footage Christine Dacera last seen [Video file]. Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=246644630205617&id=103269597876455.
Cheung, H. (2017, April 7). China hotel 'assault video' sparks anger and debate. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35984855.
Gan, N. (2016, April 6). Outrage as Chinese woman tells of police, hotel staff’s inaction after dramatic near-abduction in Beijing hotel. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1933961/outrage-chinese-woman-tells-police-hotel-staffs-inaction-after.
GMA News. (2021, January 6). GMA News Feed: CCTV footage sa hotel kung saan namatay si Christine Dacera, inilabas [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zP9DPApP3E.
Ian Naranja SHOW. (2021, January 5). Christine Dacera actual CCTV footage sa hotel [ Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVUBzBZdnrs
Wanwan [弯弯_2016]. (2016, April 5). #和颐酒店女生遇袭##卖淫窝点案底酒店#整理了我被劫持的经过和事态发展到现在的结果，希望对看到这个文章的朋友有所帮助，并且让更多的人转发扩散，让身边的女生看到我的案子有警觉心，也希望有关部门看到这个文章之后，能给我一个有诚意的答复！[I sorted out the history of my hijacking and the results of the development to the present. I hope it will be helpful to friends who read this article and let more people forward it. Let the girls around me be alert to see my case, and hope that the relevant departments can give me a sincere reply after reading this article]. Weibo. Retrieved from https://weibo.com/5892492312/DpAKQ7Mwe?type=repost#_rnd1609977623700.