Teenage boy allegedly sexually assaulted by worker on Carnival cruise ship

[Artemis >>--->]

I know it seems like a PR nightmare for Carnival to release this to the news, but if they cared about their passengers they would. This should be shown far and wide in case there are other victims that might be compelled to come forward now. Perpetrators of this type of violence rarely strike just once and get caught, this has likely happened many times before. :(

[Cruisegoer]

This would not have happened if the boy had not broken the rules of going into the steam/sauna area without a guardian. The parents are at fault for for not knowing where their son was. The cruise line was at fault for not managing it's own policies better.

 

Yes the steward was at fault for pursuing the boy. I didn't even think staff at his level were allowed access to the ship's locker room facilities. I'm sure this will result in increased restriction of ship personnel.

 

I have been on a cruise where a passenger allegedly sexually assaulted an unmonitored boy in the sauna as well. He was arrested upon arrival back in the US.

[Artemis >>--->]

This would not have happened if the boy had not broken the rules of going into the steam/sauna area without a guardian. The parents are at fault for for not knowing where their son was. The cruise line was at fault for not managing it's own policies better.

 

Yes the steward was at fault for pursuing the boy. I didn't even think staff at his level were allowed access to the ship's locker room facilities. I'm sure this will result in increased restriction of ship personnel.

 

I have been on a cruise where a passenger allegedly sexually assaulted an unmonitored boy in the sauna as well. He was arrested upon arrival back in the US.

 

You're making a wild assumption that he broke the rules, as previous posters have pointed out, children between 12-17 can go into this area with a parent present - he clearly was near enough to his father for his father to quickly apprehend the rapist.

 

More importantly, even if he was breaking the rules he should be able to do so without being raped! Stop blaming the victim.

[bakersdozen12]

You're making a wild assumption that he broke the rules' date=' as previous posters have pointed out, children between 12-17 can go into this area with a parent present - he clearly was near enough to his father for his father to quickly apprehend the rapist.

 

More importantly, even if he was breaking the rules he should be able to do so without being raped! Stop blaming the victim.[/quote']

 

 

"Near enough" and "present" are not the same thing. Accompanied means "be present or occur at the same time as (something else)." This kid's father was not in the same room as him, therefore, he was not being accompanied by his parent, a clear violation of the rule. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be a learning experience for other parents, since it was preventable.

[Artemis >>--->]

"Near enough" and "present" are not the same thing. Accompanied means "be present or occur at the same time as (something else)." This kid's father was not in the same room as him, therefore, he was not being accompanied by his parent, a clear violation of the rule. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be a learning experience for other parents, since it was preventable.

 

why are we even arguing about this, are you seriously saying that it's ok for rule-breakers to be raped? that's sure what it sounds like.

 

The bottom line is that you have NO IDEA why his father wasn't by his side (as he showered...that would be totally weird in and of itself, I might add); maybe the father needed to use the restroom, maybe the father interpreted the rule to mean that if he was present in the facility it was enough, or more likely, maybe this crew member waited for just the right second to attack (like most predators do).

[spyingeyes]

"Near enough" and "present" are not the same thing. Accompanied means "be present or occur at the same time as (something else)." This kid's father was not in the same room as him, therefore, he was not being accompanied by his parent, a clear violation of the rule. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be a learning experience for other parents, since it was preventable.

 

 

Placing the blame on the parents is asinine. Making excuses and placing blame on ANYONE other than the perpetrator is abhorrent. It's faulty logic such as yours that makes it so difficult for sexual assault victims to come forward.

[bakersdozen12]

Placing the blame on the parents is asinine. Making excuses and placing blame on ANYONE other than the perpetrator is abhorrent. It's faulty logic such as yours that makes it so difficult for sexual assault victims to come forward.

 

 

Not once did I ever say I was placing blame on the parents. Just saying that there are rules for a reason, and I think it's a shame that the kid is suffering because his parent didn't follow the rules. Had his dad been in the room, the kid wouldn't have been looked upon as being prey by this predator. If it really happened, of course. Nothing as been proven just yet.

 

Anyway, when I said preventable I'm just pointing out that hopefully others can learn from this and not leave their kids unattended in a sauna or shower with adult strangers present. Yes, I think sexual predators are creeps, but unfortunately in this day and age, you have to assume anyone could be one and take the proper precautions.

Edited August 16, 2015 by bakersdozen12

[Seago2]

"Near enough" and "present" are not the same thing. Accompanied means "be present or occur at the same time as (something else)." This kid's father was not in the same room as him, therefore, he was not being accompanied by his parent, a clear violation of the rule. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be a learning experience for other parents, since it was preventable.

 

 

Yes, absolutely, rape and attempted rape are an excellent learning experience. Are you out of your mind? Blame the victim much? I've been to the gym and sauna with my teens before and no, I haven't been staring at them every second. I've been in the general vicinity. If they were 2,4 or 6 years old my eyes would be on them every second everywhere on the ship. This is a teenager we're talking about. But hey, great learning experience for all involved.

[OCruisers]

Thank God this boy told his parents, and actions immediately taken. Many victims are afraid/ashamed to tell, therefore the pedophiles go undetected. Thanks to him, at least one will be taken out of circulation. It's no telling if he did harm to others, be it passengers or other crew members. My heart goes out to him and his family. Thanks to him for being strong, and trusting in his parents to help him right away.

 

Unfortunately, way too many are too ashamed of what happened to tell anyone. :o

[CocoCandy]

My heart goes out to this boy and his family. What a horrible way to end a vacation!

 

 

My question is why was the room steward allowed to have use of the passenger sauna? It was my understanding the crew has their own gym and even their own hot tub, so I would think they would have their own sauna for crew use.

[momof3cruisers]

"Near enough" and "present" are not the same thing. Accompanied means "be present or occur at the same time as (something else)." This kid's father was not in the same room as him, therefore, he was not being accompanied by his parent, a clear violation of the rule. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be a learning experience for other parents, since it was preventable.

 

Do you realize you are contradicting yourself with your definition? You say present is not the same as accompanied, but then in defining accompanied you use the word present. So, it seems they are the same thing.

 

In addition, the last time my son took a shower WITH one of our sons was back in early elementary and even then it was in a family changing room at the Y.

 

My hope for this young man is that the "sexual conduct" was touching or trying to grab him. Sounds like the incident was fairly quick. I also hope his parents tell him repeatedly how proud they are of him for alerting someone to what had happened.

[Angelsea57]

Yeap, the news just made it thru our local evening news.

Incredible. Feel sorry for that family. Not what you expect

to happen to a family member on a cruise vacations.

Eye opener...

Edited August 16, 2015 by Angelsea57

[briankeith513]

This is definitely and obviously not the fault of the victim, and hopefully the scumbag will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, it is a sad fact, that if his parents were following the rules, this still wouldn't have happened. I see parents all of the time, who don't pay attention while their kids do dangerous things, whether it's walking or playing near the paths of cars, or letting them do things unsupervised. Scumbags like this guy have always been around, and in a perfect world, they wouldn't exist, but this isn't anything close to a perfect world. Hopefully, out of this tragedy, parents will be more protective of their kids.

Edited August 16, 2015 by briankeith513

[SRQfireman]

Do you realize you are contradicting yourself with your definition? You say present is not the same as accompanied, but then in defining accompanied you use the word present. So, it seems they are the same thing.

 

In addition, the last time my son took a shower WITH one of our sons was back in early elementary and even then it was in a family changing room at the Y.

 

My hope for this young man is that the "sexual conduct" was touching or trying to grab him. Sounds like the incident was fairly quick. I also hope his parents tell him repeatedly how proud they are of him for alerting someone to what had happened.

 

Can you elaborate what you're saying here?......I'm confused

[SHayesShip]

This was at least released to the local tv affiliates here in Central Florida because I saw it on the ABC news affiliate yesterday (Saturday).

 

I know it seems like a PR nightmare for Carnival to release this to the news' date=' but if they cared about their passengers they would. This should be shown far and wide in case there are other victims that might be compelled to come forward now. Perpetrators of this type of violence rarely strike just once and get caught, this has likely happened many times before. :([/quote']

Edited August 16, 2015 by SHayesShip

[Artemis >>--->]

This was at least released to the local tv affiliates here ni Central Florida because I saw it on the ABC news yesterday (Saturday).

 

Well that is something. I do wish it was all over the US, people travel from far and wide to cruise, the victims could be all over North America.

[carsastic]

crew member needs to be thrown in a wood chipper feet first .

[momof3cruisers]

Can you elaborate what you're saying here?......I'm confused

 

Typo...husband taking a shower with our son. Sorry about that.

[Keel Haul]

crew member needs to be thrown in a wood chipper feet first .

yep, xxxxx due process its such a bore.

[gnocchi_mommy]

Not once did I ever say I was placing blame on the parents. Just saying that there are rules for a reason, and I think it's a shame that the kid is suffering because his parent didn't follow the rules. Had his dad been in the room, the kid wouldn't have been looked upon as being prey by this predator. If it really happened, of course. Nothing as been proven just yet.

 

Anyway, when I said preventable I'm just pointing out that hopefully others can learn from this and not leave their kids unattended in a sauna or shower with adult strangers present. Yes, I think sexual predators are creeps, but unfortunately in this day and age, you have to assume anyone could be one and take the proper precautions.

 

This is just stupid- the father was there, the rules dont say you must stand in the shower with your teenager!! Do you accompany your teens into public bathrooms every time you're out at a restaurant or event??

[charmed101]

Its truly amazing that some cc members can take a news worthy post, a happy post or even a bad post and turn it into blaming others and an opportunity to start controversy.

[quickrate]

why are we even arguing about this' date=' are you seriously saying that it's ok for rule-breakers to be raped? that's sure what it sounds like.

 

The bottom line is that you have NO IDEA why his father wasn't by his side (as he showered...that would be totally weird in and of itself, I might add); maybe the father needed to use the restroom, maybe the father interpreted the rule to mean that if he was present in the facility it was enough, or more likely, maybe this crew member waited for just the right second to attack (like most predators do).[/quote']

No where does it say the boy was raped, it only says sexually assaulted, please don't put a bigger stigma on this boy by saying he was raped! This is how rumors get started and the kid has enough to deal with without this beind said!!

Pat

[tree.critter]

No where does it say the boy was raped, it only says sexually assaulted, please don't put a bigger stigma on this boy by saying he was raped! This is how rumors get started and the kid has enough to deal with without this beind said!!

Pat

 

Agree Quickrate, well said.

 

I will wait till all the facts are in. Sexual assault can cover a multitude of actions, it can be as minor as an unwanted advance all the way to rape and more. Teenagers have been known to embellish facts.....and sexual predators have gone undetected ......the truth of this situation will be known as this case works it's way through the court system.

[KatieCharlotte]

Why, when terrible things happen, are there always people who claim that "this would never have happened if the victim/parents had just done X"? Does this come from a need to feel safe yourself? A need to believe that if you just follow the rules you and your children can't possibly be harmed?

 

This is NOT the reason the under 18 rule was put in place. Do you honestly think parents stand next to their teenage sons in the showers at the local Y, where this is just as likely (that is, extremely unlikely) to happen? If I take my teen son to the Y pool without my husband, do I humiliate him by taking him into the family changing room?

 

We don't alter our lives to live in fear because of an extremely rare, terrible thing happened.

[Cruise life]

I have been reading this because we have 3 sons; two are approaching their teen years quickly. It's one thing to teach kids Good Touch Bad Touch and another to warn them about aggression and violence. While wanting to teach our boys about pedophiles, we don't want to make them so afraid they won't shower alone or use a non-family bathroom. I have more than once made sure my kids were ok in a male bathroom by opening the door and yelling inside to them. Bathrooms and spa areas are targets and, other than making the areas adult-only, I don't see the risk to our children ending. I have a huge problem with boys over 6 or 7 not being allowed to use the bathroom with their mother in places that don't have a family bathroom (or daughters with their dads), which is much of the free world. We had an incident in a McDonald's once where an obviously severely incapacitated man entered the men's room after our son did...you can bet we were all over that. Young boys and girls are not strong enough to defend themselves - or able to discern risk quickly enough- once they realize what is happening and that's obviously why they are targeted; we need to do more to protect them. I am teaching my boys to scream, kick, and run, but this won't help them in remote areas when they are overpowered. Hope this 15 yr old gets immediate therapy to understand he was a victim and not responsible in any way. I can't say what I wish upon the offender. Violence is not the answer to unmet sexual needs. This guy could have relieved himself in the shower; he is a criminal to act upon a minor if this is true. And the worst part is I don't believe in rehab for this type of criminal...what a waste of a life. I hope he realizes his error and asks forgiveness- but it's too late for me to ever trust him again in any capacity. So sorry to hear about this crime.