Two students of the Far Eastern University were charged in court on Monday for the stabbing last October of a University of Santo Tomas student inside the FEU campus in Morayta, Manila.
In their counter-affidavits, Christina Acosta and Aprille Borromeo, who had been reportedly expelled from FEU, said they acted in self-defense because they were attacked by members of the Tau Gamma Phi sorority, accompanied by UST student Joanne Lourdes Reyes, who sustained stab wounds.
From the initial case of frustrated murder, Assistant City Prosecutor Elizabeth Lim recommended the filing of frustrated homicide charges against the two in the Manila Regional Trial Court because of the absence of premeditation and treachery.
Danica Suba and Danica Ortega were dropped from the case because their participation in the stabbing was not established.
Reyes said she was at the third floor of the FEU science building on Oct. 2, 2012 waiting for her friend Rocel Armine de Mesa, when a group of female students suddenly attacked her. Borromeo had used pepper-spray against her while Acosta stabbed her, she added.
Acosta, Borromeo and Suba, however, said Acosta’s best friend Luisa Marie Gutierrez told them that sorority girls, including Reyes, who were bullying her into joining the group were waiting outside her classroom.
Reyes, who was allegedly holding a seven-inch knife, attacked Acosta’s group. Borromeo and Suba were able to run while Acosta was left behind.
Acosta said Reyes tried to stab her but she blocked the attempt, resulting in a wound in her arm. She groped for the knife but Reyes tried to stop her by putting an arm around her neck.
Acosta said she was able to get the knife and managed to get away.
The court said there was no evidence of premeditation and no treachery because the stab wounds were shallow.
But the location and number of the wounds show an intent to kill and contradict the self-defense claim, it added.
Gutierrez said that last year, De Mesa and Khia Lopez pulled her hair and kicked her while inside the science building.
The two were expelled after Gutierrez reported the incident to school officials, Acosta said in her counter-affidavit.