A female youth counselor on the cruise ship Millennium filed suit against Celebrity Cruises Wednesday, alleging she was sexually assaulted and battered by two male crew members, and that the company failed to provide her with medical treatment and counseling or preserve evidence from the crime scene.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, also alleges that Celebrity failed to perform adequate background checks on employees and was negligent by ignoring prior complaints of sexual harassment and assaults aboard its vessels.
On Nov. 2, the Bahamian Police arrested the two crew members — a plumber and an air conditioning technician — on charges of rape. They have since posted bail and surrendered their passports, and are awaiting trial.
“We have a strong zero tolerance policy regarding any alleged crime on board our ships,” said Michael Sheehan, spokesman for Miami-based Celebrity, which is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “The allegations were immediately reported to the FBI, and the Bahamian authorities, which are investigating.”
The suit seeks compensation for medical treatment and other damages, plus punitive damages.
“Most importantly, we want some acknowledgment by the company that their zero tolerance program is not a zero tolerance program designed to prevent crime. It’s a zero tolerance program designed to protect them legally from reports of crime,” said James M. Walker, a Miami maritime attorney who represents the female employee.
According to the suit, Delatalas Theologos, 20, and Nikolaos Neamonitis, 27, abducted and repeatedly raped “Jane Doe” in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, following a crew Halloween party. She apparently had been drugged by the alleged assailants, and was rendered unconscious or semi-conscious during the assault, Walker said.
Hired by Celebrity in June, “Doe,” 26, had been assigned to the Millennium just nine days earlier, to care for the children of passengers. “Doe” is now living outside the United States at her parents’ home, and declined to be interviewed, her attorney said.
The suit says that when “Doe” became conscious, she observed Theologos and Neamonitis videotaping her. She tried to obtain the tape and escape from the cabin, but was assaulted and battered by the men, the suit alleges.
“Doe” reported the rape to the cruise line. But instead of providing medical attention, performing a forensic rape analysis or preserving the scene of the crime, Celebrity subjected her to multiple interrogations by the male Celebrity officers on the ship, the suit alleges.
On Nov. 2, a Celebrity defense lawyer boarded the ship in Nassau. Saying he was acting in a neutral role, he interrogated “Doe” before she was finally allowed to report to the infirmary, the suit alleges. She was allegedly told not to mention the two crew members by name or inform the doctor that she had been sexually assaulted and battered. The doctor refused to treat “Doe,” the suit says.
She departed the ship and received medical treatment in the Bahamas, and was flown to Miami by the cruise line on Nov. 3, and provided with a hotel room, Walker said. At her insistence, the cruise line referred her to South Miami Hospital, he said.
Walker said it is unknown whether “Doe” is still employed by Celebrity. Sheehan declined to comment on the employment status of the three crew members.
In a separate case against Celebrity, alleging sexual assault of a female passenger by a male crew member onboard the Zenith on July 20, 1999, a federal jury last month awarded the passenger $1 million.
By Ina Paiva Cordle, The Miami Herald
