Cruise Ship Worker Reportedly Rapes Guest, Tries to Toss Her Overboard
[There was a video here]
An Indonesian employee on a Holland America cruise ship was arrested over the weekend for allegedly raping a shipboard guest in her stateroom, then attempting to kill her by tossing her over the side and into the briny deep.
Ketut Pujayasa, 28, was apprehended by FBI agents at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after the MS Nieuw Amsterdam returned to its mooring from the weeklong Caribbean charter cruise. The attack "occurred early Friday morning in international waters off the coast of Roatan, Honduras," according to a Toronto Star report:
According to a criminal complaint, the victim — a 31-year-old U.S. woman — told investigators she was attacked and raped in her stateroom. The attacker tried to throw her from the balcony, but she escaped and received help from another passenger.
Pujayasa initially left the room but then turned himself in. The report says the Indonesian man told investigators he attacked the victim because she had disrespected him earlier.
In the video above, Miami's NBC 6 fills in some of the grisly gaps in that timeline: Apparently, Pujuyasa was offended after he attempted to deliver room service to the victim and she told him to "Wait a minute, son of a bitch." He reportedly took that as a grave insult to himself and his family, so he returned to her stateroom, letting himself in and laying in wait for her on the balcony.
When she returned to the room, according to the complaint, he choked and hit her, striking her with a laptop and curling iron. She freed herself by stabbing him with a corkscrew and lurched into the passageway in nothing but a shirt, seeking help.
Pujuyasa is charged with aggravated sexual abuse and attempted murder.
"To our knowledge, no incident like this has occurred in our company's 140-year history," Holland America's CEO said in a release. But then, if the victims were successfully thrown overboard, no one would know about such an incident. Put another way: Don't cruise alone, people.