Articles Tagged with “Cruise Ship Rape”

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During a Valentine’s Day Cruise on the Holland America Line cruise ship “MS Nieuw Amsterdam”, cruise employee, Ketut Pujayasa, 28, who is an Indonesian citizen, savagely raped, beat and attempted to kill an innocent 31-year-old female cruise passenger.

As is often the method used by cruise employees who sexually assault female passengers, Pujayasa gained access to the passenger’s stateroom using a master key issued to many crewmembers, which give access to every single stateroom throughout the ship. Once inside, he hid on the balcony of the room. Moments later, the passenger returned to her room, where she was jumped on by the crewmember. According to the latest reports, he beat her with a laptop, and a curling iron. Once he thought he had physically won his victim over, he used the curling iron’s cord and the phone’s cord to choke the woman. Fighting for her life, she was able to loosen the grasp of her assailant by kicking his exposed genitals.

Ketut Pujayasa mugshot.jpgAt that time, Pujayasa told the FBI that he attempted to kill his agonizing victim by throwing her over the railing of the stateroom’s balcony. That is when knocks on the room’s door scared him away and he escaped by climbing out of the room, into another balcony. The victim ran out of her room half naked, with the cord of the curling iron still wrapped around her neck and body.

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Since 2010 and the passage of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, the cruise industry has a duty to report 8 crimes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They include: Homicide, suspicious death, missing U.S. National, kidnapping, assault with serious bodily injury, firing or tampering with the vessel, theft of money or property in excess of $10,000, and sexual crimes. Once the crimes are reported, the Coast Guard publishes the statistics on its website after the investigations are closed.

carnival-triumph-disabled.jpgOn December 20, 2013, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published its review of the first 3 years of compliance by the cruise ship industry of the new regulations imposed by the CVSSA. Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation gave a sombering overview: “I’ll give the cruise ships some credit, because of the first bill we passed they raised the level of their railings . . . They’ve done a pretty good job on that, but when it comes to crime, no they have not.”

In its report, with respect to CVSSA crime-reporting requirements, the GAO noted that the FBI and the USCG have implemented these provisions as required. The crimes that occur on cruise ships and that fall within one of the 8 crimes listed above have been published when they are no longer under investigation. However, the GAO noted instrinseque limitations on how the statistics would provide any measure of usefuleness to prospective cruise passengers. Specifically, the GAO raised three specific areas of concern:

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We reported last week that, Luiz Scavone, a 20-year-old Brazilian citizen, was arrested during a cruise on Allure of the Seas.

On Friday, Broward Circuit Judge Matthew Destry ordered 20-year-old Luiz Scavone to be held without bail Friday. Judge Destry motivated his decision by the belief that, if released on bail, Scavone could easily flee the country: “This is South Florida. Let’s face it: If you want to get on a boat and leave for South America, that can happen, with or without a passport. It’s not difficult to do.” Prosecutors argued in favor of Scavone to be held without bail because of his brazilian citizenship.

LuizScavoneHearing2.jpgBrazil has recently passed an amendment to its constitution making it illegal for a Brazilian citizen to be extradited from Brazil to a foreign country to face criminal charges. In other words, should Scavone leave the country and enter Brazil, The United States would never be able to prosecute the 20-year-old for his alleged criminal acts.

The victim, a 15-year-old teenage girl from Iowa, reported the sexual assault immediately to the cruise ship employees. She claims that another 15-year-old male lured her into a private cabin under false pretenses. Luiz Scavone was waiting for them in the cabin. The minor victim refused the two men’s sexual advances, and they proceeded with ripping her clothes off and took turn raping her.

allure of the seas cabin.jpg

We have recently learned that the minor who lured the victim to a private cabin is Luiz Scavone’s 15-year-old brother. The alleged minor assailant who is being held as a juvenile faces criminal charges, though not as serious as his big brother. Luiz Scavone is charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a victim younger than 16 and older than 12. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

You can read our reports here:

Cruise Ship Passenger Raped Aboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas

Alleged Cruise Ship Rapist Asks Judge to be Released

The attorney for the two alleged assailants, their uncle, has declared last week that the victim consented to the sexual encounter and that she was not forced to do anything. Luiz Scavone has pled not guilty.
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