The latest information from the Bahamas the place two younger U.S. ladies from a Carnival ship had been drugged and raped concerned a foreseeable, horrific crime at a Bahamian resort promoted by the cruise line, based on the victims. Earlier this week, the 2 younger ladies, who’re from the state of Kentucky, sailed on the Carnival Elation from Jacksonville to Freeport within the Bahamas and went to a resort promoted by Carnival (Pirate’s Cove Resort) after paying the cruise line shore tour charge of $56.99. Carnival claims that the tour was an unbiased shore tour though it seems clear that Carnival promoted this specific resort to its passengers and characterised it as a “picturesque” seaside with “skilled, hospitable and cordial employees (who) will guarantee you could have a memorial go to.” Earlier than they had been capable of return to the cruise ship, two males believed to be workers of the Bahamian resort reportedly drugged and raped them.
Above: a portion of Carnival Cruise Line’s promotional info promoting excursions to Pirate’s Cove earlier than the cruise line scrubbed it from its web site.
Cruise passengers Dongayla Dobson and Amber Shearer, who’ve used their actual names in media interviews, are each 31 years of age. They report being served alcohol by uniformed employees members on the Pirate’s Cove seaside resort throughout an tour really helpful and bought by Carnival Cruise Line (Carnival’s promotional info for the tour has been scrubbed from Carnival’s web site). Their drinks had been reportedly spiked with medicine, later decided to incorporate opiates and benzodiazepines. Safety footage from the resort reportedly exhibits that shortly after receiving the drinks, the ladies had been barely capable of stand as they had been led away to a rest room by the 2 resort workers and each raped by the 2 males. (In an interview with the Nassau Guardian, the resort claims that the surveillance footage doesn’t assist their claims however supplies no clarification for the alleged discrepancy). The Bahamian press has not named the 2 suspects, reporting solely {that a} “54-year-old man from Eight Mile Rock and a 40-year-old male from South Bahamia” had been arrested.
Ms. Dobson and Ms. Shearer each at the moment are taking anti-retoviral HIV treatment, after they had been examined and handled on the Carnival cruise ship. The ladies instructed a media outlet in Kentucky that they’ve “bruises up and down” their legs that are confirmed by pictures taken after the rapes.
Each ladies complained that the Royal Bahamian Cops allegedly “handled them like criminals” and “refused to provide them rape kits.”
Carnival, Pirates Cove and the Royal Bahamas Police Pressure Push Again
It seems that the cruise line, tour resort and native police are all disputing among the information surrounding the crime. Carnival disputes that this crime occurred throughout a cruise-sponsored tour (though the cruise line faces the identical authorized publicity for not warning its company of the heightened hazard of rape within the Bahamas no matter whether or not the tour was sponsored or a non-public enterprise). Pirate’s Cove claims that the ladies “refused to be transported to the hospital” and the native police had been quoted within the Bahamian press stating that the ladies allegedly declined emergency medical remedy. Nevertheless, the ladies knowledgeable U.S. media shops that they had been knowledgeable that in the event that they went to the native hospital, their return to the cruise ship wouldn’t be assured and so they had been each involved that they weren’t touring with passports. The medical group on the Carnival cruise ship finally examined the 2 victims and carried out testing which revealed the presence of medication and the absence of alcohol within the ladies.
The truth that the cruise line, tour vendor and police are attempting to boost doubts about these horrific crimes is in line with Bahamian governmental officers who’ve labored additional time to guard the Bahamas’s fame and picture as a carefree, satisfying and protected vacationer vacation spot. The Bahamas started to push again in opposition to U.S. journey warnings as quickly as they had been issued. Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis responded to the crime advisories about journey to his nation, stressing that the federal government “is alert, attentive and proactive to make sure that The Bahamas stays a protected and welcoming vacation spot.”
Crime Advisories for the Bahamas
Shortly earlier than the ladies’s cruise, the U.S. Division of State issued a Stage 2 journey advisory for the Bahamas because of a rise in violent crime, particularly recommending elevated warning on the islands of New Windfall and Grand Bahama. The warning talked about not solely violent crime like burglaries and armed robberies, however “sexual assaults in each vacationer and non-tourist areas” as properly. Earlier than the State Division warning, the USA Embassy within the Bahamas issued a “safety alert” on January twenty fourth. It urged vacationers to “train excessive warning” in Nassau within the wake of 18 murders within the metropolis since January 1st.
Neither girl state that they had been conscious of the U.S. crime warnings for the Bahamas and they didn’t obtain any warnings from Carnival earlier than or throughout their arrival within the Bahamas.
Cruise Traces Have A Authorized Obligation to Warn Passengers of Risks in Ports of Name
Cruise strains, or course, have a authorized responsibility to warn passengers of risks which exist not solely on their ships however in ports by which they name on.
Did Carnival Warn Its Friends of the Heightened Threat of Sexual Assault and Different Violent Crime within the Bahamas?
Over time, we’ve seen some cruise strains problem warnings to passengers about crime in some ports of name. Royal Caribbean, for instance, issued letters to passengers a number of years in the past warning in regards to the hazard of crime in Nassau. However many cruise strains, like Carnival, don’t problem warnings but proceed to advertise shore tour, for monetary causes, into harmful ports of name.
As we are going to talk about in our subsequent weblog, cruise strains have an absolute responsibility to warn its passengers of crime risks within the ports of name the place they go to. That is true whether or not the cruise company are on an tour promoted and bought by the cruise line or an independant tour unrelated to the cruise line. Carlisle v. Ulysses Line Ltd., S.A.,475 So. 2nd 248, 251 (Fla. third DCA 1985), Chaparro v. Carnival, 693 F.3d 1333 (eleventh Cir. 2012).
The Most Harmful Cruise Vacation spot within the World?
Ten years in the past, we revealed “Ten Most Harmful Cruise Locations within the World.” We selected the Bahamas because the primary most harmful cruise vacation spot due to armed robberies and quite a few sexual assaults in opposition to cruise vacationers in Nassau and Freeport. The Bahamas has been topic to a criminal offense (degree 2) advisory for years. There have been plenty of crime warnings issued by the usEmbassy of the hazard of sexual assault at native seaside resorts.
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Picture Credit score: Photographs from the Carnival Elation – Dongayla Dobson Fb through Each day Mail; victims – interview with Dongayla Dobson and Amber Shearer.; Carnival Elation – Jersyko, CC BY-SA 3.0 commons / wikimedia.
