Woman Raped, Beaten, And Almost Thrown Overboard By Cruise Attendant Sues Holland America

Warning: Graphic photo below of victim after attack.

An unidentified female cruise guest was brutally beaten, raped, and almost thrown overboard by a cruise attendant that had a master key to her cabin. The Holland America attendant, Ketut Pujayasa, admitted to the horrifying acts and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, the victim is now suing Holland America for “gross negligence” in the case as the company failed to respond to 911 calls placed by other guests for nearly 45 minutes. The woman’s lawyer also says it was grossly negligent to allow a single attendant to have a master key to all cabins.

The Daily Mail reports that the woman listed simply as Jane Doe in court filings was brutally raped aboard a Holland America cruise ship. The married woman was 31 at the time of the attack and was on the cruise ship with a group of friends. According to the report, the woman returned to her single cabin around midnight. She got ready for bed and then turned out the lights. As she was getting into the bed she noticed a shadow moving on her cabin balcony. A man jumped on her from the shadows and hit her over the head with laptop. He then proceeded to strangle the woman with his bare hands and a phone cord in the room. The man then raped the woman and beat her for nearly an hour.

After the man had beaten the woman and raped her repeatedly, he then tried to drag the screaming woman to the balcony in an attempt to throw her overboard. As it turns out, the rapist worked for Holland America as a cruise attendant and had a master key to the victim’s room. The rapist was 29-year-old Ketut Pujayasa from Indonesia.

Fortunately the woman was an aerialist by trade and had strong upper body strength. She was able to hold on to the balcony door which prevented Pujayasa from throwing her into the dark waters below. She was able to wiggle her way free from the rapist and bolted for the door. She opened the door and was greeted by a group of passengers who had gathered around the room as they waited for help. The woman was partially naked and bleeding when she entered the hallway for help.

According to the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe, Holland America cruise lines was extremely negligent in many areas that resulted in the horrific attack. First, the woman’s lawyer John H. Hickey says that when the attack began a number of passengers called 911 to report a disturbance. However, it would take the front desk nearly 45 minutes to arrive at the scene to help. Once they arrived it was determined that none of the staff had a key to gain entry into the room. Therefore, they had to wait longer for a staff member to arrive with a master key. The woman would free herself before the cabin crew would find a key to enter the room.

In addition to the lack of proper 911 protocol, the lawyers say that Pujayasa should have never had access to a cabin master key. The combination resulted in what Hickey says is “the definition of outrageous.”

“If this is not the definition of outrageous, I don’t know what is.”

To make matters worse, the Holland America 911 system sends calls to the front desk instead of security. At the front desk, employees “triage” the calls. When passengers called about the disturbance in Jane Doe’s room, the call was “triaged” as of “moderate” importance. However, as the lawsuit points out, a call about a blocked toilet was ranked as “high” priority the day before.

Jane Doe is seeking $50 million in compensation and $365 million in punitive damages as she now suffers PTSD and suffered a traumatic brain injury. When Pujayasa was questioned about why he attacked the woman, he claimed that he picked her as a target because she was rude to him that morning when he delivered her breakfast. The rapist claims that Jane Doe responded, “Wait a minute, son of a b****” when he rang with her room service.

The trial is set for November 7, 2016.

[Image Credit: Miami Police Mugshot/ Holland America]