Woman Attacked/Raped On Nieuw Amsterdam

[sail7seas]

I am also suspicious of the alleged reasons for the attack and wonder whether the passenger was targeted.

 

 

I wonder the same.

It is so horrific it's impossible for us to understand.

 

 

[mamaofami]

 

The rage and anger he inflicted on this poor woman leaves me speechless. In retrospect, I'm sure his fellow crew saw signs of anger demonstrated by this man.

Edited February 19, 2014 by mamaofami

[kjw869]

Yes..... the fellow who delivers the laundry opens the door and enters to deliver it. He likely knocked but you did not hear him seeing you were out on your verandah. I forget which but I am sure at least one of the ships has door bells outside Suite cabins and it sounds on the verandah. I wish all the ships had a door bell. :)

 

 

Judy, I have a hard time hearing the knocking when I'm in the cabin!!!

 

I was startled to see him opening my verandah door with a tray of food that I had ordered no longer than eight minutes earlier. I asked if my wife or cabin steward let him in and he said "no". They slap those Club sandwiches together in a hurry!

[CruiseWhere]

If WE do not want ANYONE entering our cabin, I always make sure I have the "privacy please" inserted our room key slot with the bolt as well. This works not only on cruise ships but also hotels as well.

[RuthC]

Ruth, I don't believe this was an otherwise stable person ....

Carol. I typed "...otherwise unstable person...". He managed to hold it together, but this perceived slight set him off.

Edited February 19, 2014 by RuthC

[aliaschief]

I'm not going to speculate, become an a tabloid investigator, but will pray for this victim and for her recovery from this traumatic event.

 

Keep your balcony door locked is a lesson for all.

 

Whether at home, hotel, travel we all have to be alert and preventive but cannot let isolated issues dictate our lives.

 

Eventually we may have the whole story and witness that justice prevails.

[ScriptOhio]

It's very unfortunate that this crew member did not realize that saying "son of a " doesn't mean that she was demeaning him or his family. She couldn't possibly have known who was outside of her door. What if she had said the "f" word instead, would he have thought he was being invited in for something?

 

Language and slang are hard to learn and understand. How many other countries has anyone here traveled to where there may have been a notice in the daily Explorer stating that we should be careful about something.

 

Sorry to hear about the incident. I believe the steward is now a former employee of Holland America.

 

This was a nude cruise and I presume the woman entered her room in the natural and this did not help matters any.

 

There is no evidence that the woman called the man a S.O.B. I strongly suspect she was doing something other than referring to the man.

 

All in all a very sad incident. Thank God the woman survived the ordeal.

 

She (the victim) has 0% blame for the incident. She is to be commended for fighting off the attacker the best she could; it undoubtedly saved her life. That facts are the attacker stalked her and was waiting in ambush on her balcony for her to return to her room. This incident had nothing to do with any language misrepresentation, the fact that it was a nude cruise, and/or what the woman might have been or have not been wearing. This could have happened on any cruise, on any ship, and on any cruise line. Sadly it (attack/rape/attempted murder) also could have happened to any of us in our own home.

 

There are sick people out there that will do very bad things. It's too bad employers can't screen out those people and not hire them; but realistically that isn't always possible unless their is something obvious like some prior criminal record. Heck, I worked for the Department of Defense for over 32 years, one day at the base that I worked at a (apparently disgruntled) employee came to work shot his supervisor and then shot himself. You just never know when a seemingly sane individual will go "over the edge" and commit some violent act.

Edited February 19, 2014 by ScriptOhio

[COLLEYBERRY]

I am also suspicious of the alleged reasons for the attack and wonder whether the passenger was targeted.

 

In his deluded thinking he probably hoped to be judged as someone defending his family's honor...than as the sexual predator he really is...

[Lauranne]

It has been my understanding that not only do Room Service stewards not have cabin keys but a cabin steward is not supposed to open a door for them.

 

Guests are expected to open the door for Room Service and grant permission for them to enter. I cannot vouch that procedure is not sometimes breached. ;)

 

On our Alaskan cruise in August we were a bit late getting back from our morning walk. The room service breakfast had arrived and was sitting on the table. Not sure who actually opened the door but I assumed it was the room service steward.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Definitely a very sad situation and thankful the women survived. The Crew member was definitely not stable or I would go as far as to say mentally ill. I wish her a speedy recovery.

I would be curious as to how long the crew member had been working for HAL and how long he had been on his present contract. It is interesting that the news article did not give that information.

[reefisher]

In his deluded thinking he probably hoped to be judged as someone defending his family's honor...than as the sexual predator he really is...

 

I think you are correct. In some cultures (there is no need to name them) it is considered if not legally okay, at least culturally okay to kill someone who disrespects you, including your own children, let alone someone who cusses you out on the street. I would speculate that his "I became angry because of a slight" defense is what he thinks would play to his culture.

[COLLEYBERRY]

I think you are correct. In some cultures (there is no need to name them) it is considered if not legally okay, at least culturally okay to kill someone who disrespects you, including your own children, let alone someone who cusses you out on the street. I would speculate that his "I became angry because of a slight" defense is what he thinks would play to his culture.

 

 

 

I fear there are many cultures in this world...who use disrespect as a reason for violence...including my own.

[PatsyAnne]

A number of responders to this thread have voiced similar opinions as what I have highlighted in red. Am I the only one thinking that the perpetrator concocted the "son of a b****" story as a feeble attempt to "justify" his attack? I just don't buy that a crew member (even if he was truly offended by the profanity) would go to such lengths in retaliation. I think it is more likely that he found a young 31-yr-old passenger (who seemed single or may have been booked in the cabin alone) and planned to rape her. It is likely that he has raped/attacked women before (maybe not on a cruise ship, but at home in Indonesia) and gotten away with it. This time, he got caught thankfully. I admit, this is speculation on my part, but I just don't believe his story.

That's what I was thinking, so you're not the only one.

[david_sobe]

Scary story but thank goodness she survived. She had the courage and mental strength to fight back. This could have ended very bad. God bless her!

[homeschoolmama]

Don't know hal's policy but I know on rccl if you have do not disturb tag in door, the room service or anyone else for that matter cannot knock, let alone enter the room. When we are in the room that sign is always in our door and sometimes we put it in even when we aren't there to deter staff from entering without permission. If we leave in am we ask steward to put it in our door when he is done. We have forgotton to take itbout after calling room service and embarassingly later call wondering where our food is, only to be reminded tag was in the door. ALWAYS use your deadbolt when in the room. I practce this same thing when in hotels and as soon as the room is cleaned the sign goes out.

My prayers go to this precious woman, that her physical wounds will heal but more importantly her emotional wounds will heal

Sent from my SCH-I915 using Forums mobile app

[travelinjones]

I would be curious as to how long the crew member had been working for HAL and how long he had been on his present contract. It is interesting that the news article did not give that information.

 

This part of an article from the Sun Sentinel says the attacker was a HAL employee since 2012:

---

Officials from Holland America Line said the "senseless assault" shook the entire company to its core.

 

"We continue to work closely with authorities to understand how this incident occurred and what additional actions we can take to help ensure that nothing like this ever happens again," according to a statement released Tuesday.

 

They said Pujayasa was hired in 2012, following "a careful screening that included a clean criminal history check. He had no performance issues and came with good references."

[Copper10-8]

A terribly horrific and sad event! Thoughts and prayers to the female victim of this senseless crime for a full and speedy recovery!

[Cleo01]

I'm cruising on that ship 4/6 is it safe

 

 

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[mamaofami]

Carol. I typed "...otherwise unstable person...". He managed to hold it together, but this perceived slight set him off.

 

Ruth, I noticed my mistake in reading what you typed immediately after hitting send, which is why I edited my post.If you look back, you will see my original comment was deleted..Sorry for the confusion. I reread it because I realized you couldn't have written what I thought you wrote.

[aliaschief]

I'm cruising on that ship 4/6 is it safe

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.. Yes, your safe. Many of us have thousands of combined days sailing on Holland America ship without issues.

 

This is very rare and isolated incident. Enjoy your cruise.

Edited February 19, 2014 by aliaschief

[TiogaCruiser]

How horrifying.

 

Sure hope whatever laws take jurisdiction (we haven't had that clarified) don't allow this guys off for "not having his rights read to him". Or something else.

 

One of the links brought up why off duty employees cards are allowed to function on cabins with sola females or children as occupants. Perhaps one way of making things safer (protecting pax and crew from "issues" and accusations ) is to have staff only carry cards while on duty for their area, or have cards deactivated when not on duty, and limit the staff who have access at all- for ALL cabins. How many threads have we seen that a pax looses something and suspects crew or other pax? Why even take a chance with suspicion/ accusations?

[sammygoose]

My thoughts and prayers go out to that woman and her family. God bless her for fighting this animal off and coming out the other side. Nothing can excuse that behavior.

 

My other thought is for HAL doing the right thing and detaining the man and calling in the FBI and letting justice do its job. Too many times we hear of a cruise line throwing these things under the rug,blaming the passenger, letting a perpetrator walk off the ship at the next port or flying an employee home to avoid justice. I'm not going to name cruise lines but they tend to turn and hide when things go wrong but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

[erewhon]

Yes..... the fellow who delivers the laundry opens the door and enters to deliver it. He likely knocked but you did not hear him seeing you were out on your verandah. I forget which but I am sure at least one of the ships has door bells outside Suite cabins and it sounds on the verandah. I wish all the ships had a door bell. :)

 

 

The Volendam has a door bell which sounds on the verandah.

[BeagleOne]

 

Keep your balcony door locked is a lesson for all.

 

 

Sadly even if she DID lock her balcony door before she left for the evening, that wouldn't have stopped what happened. If she came back to her cabin, thinking it was locked, she wouldn't have had a reason to check it again and no reason to suspect anyone had sneaked into her cabin and was hiding out there. Who would?

 

 

I would go as far as to say mentally ill.

 

Or maybe he's just an evil person. Legitimate mental illness may explain (not excuse) a criminal action. But if this guy were thoroughly screened as part of the hiring process, and it sounds like he was, I would hope the screening process would have found some indication of his problem.

[K&RCurt]

My heart goes out to the victim of this horrible incident, she will be in my prayers for a speedy recovery. Her refusal to give in and her willingness to fight likely saved her life.

 

It is unimaginable that a perceived verbal slight would lead to this vicious attack.

 

I applaud HAL for being honest and open about the incident and not attempting to "hush it up" as other lines have done with other incidents.