Lima , Peru ( CNN ) -- Hours after he spoke to a judge for the first time about his daughter 's killing , Stephany Flores ' father told family and friends at a memorial service that he hoped others would learn from her death . Ricardo Flores said Wednesday he had sheltered his children too much from the evils of the world . `` Sometimes we 're wrong , and I have been wrong a lot . Because I have permitted my kids to know the good , and not the bad . My kids have everything , but also we have to take away from them sometimes , '' he said . `` Do n't commit the error that I made . '' Authorities say 21-year-old Stephany Flores was killed a month ago . Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot was charged with first-degree murder and robbery after authorities found Flores ' body in a Lima , Peru , hotel room registered to him . Ricardo Flores , who helped search for his daughter when she did n't come home May 30 after a night out at a casino , gave a formal statement about the facts surrounding the case to a judge Wednesday . Later in the day , about 300 people gathered at a Lima temple for the memorial service . Peru 's National Police Chorus sang `` Eternal Love '' while a slideshow of photographs flashed on a projector screen . Longtime friends remembered Stephany Flores as `` a great friend '' with a `` contagious smile . '' Stephany Flores came from a privileged family , but was a humble person who was extremely giving , friends told CNN . She once wrote a list of 23 businesses that she wanted to do well in , and then checked them off one by one as she decided whether she was really interested in pursuing them . At the time of her death , Flores had told her friends she was the happiest she had ever been , they said . Van der Sloot was twice arrested in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005 , but he has not been charged in that case . Police said van der Sloot admitted that he attacked Flores on May 30 after she read an e-mail in his computer connected with the Holloway case . After killing Flores , police say , van der Sloot took money and bank cards from her wallet and fled to Chile , where he was arrested June 3 . He was returned the next day to Peru . Van der Sloot is being held at the Miguel Castro Castro Prison in a high-security area where only two of the 10 cells are occupied . He has no contact with the general prison population . Van der Sloot 's attorney filed an appeal Wednesday to a ruling that upheld the admissibility of his client 's confession and the legality of his detention . In Session 's Nancy Leung contributed to this report .
Joran van der Sloot , slaying victim 's father , hopes others learn from daughter 's death . a night before , he spoke to a judge for first time about case . Stephany Flores was killed Wednesday . Ricardo Flores is charged in slaying .