The man seemed very apologetic and informed my fiance` that he had only met my assailant that day on the ship and they had been drinking together. He went on to say he had no idea my assailant was going to do what he did and that if it had been his wife or girlfriend he would be angry too. My fiance` felt this man genuinely did not mean to be a part of what had happened so he thanked him for being honest and came back to our table to inform me of what he had said. He then decided to go back to find out why security hadn't come to question my assailant. When he arrived back to the desk he had been going to all evening trying to get security to come, a different employee was there.
He asked where the other employee had gone and he was informed that he had gone to dinner with his wife. My fiance` asked if security had been sent yet, but this employee knew absolutely nothing about my assault or that the other employee was suppose to be sending security to the dining room. So he had to tell the story all over again and give this new employee the information as to where my assailant was sitting in the dining room. The employee said he would alert security and send them right away.
My fiance` came back to our table and again we waited and watched for security, but they never came. My assailant was allowed to walk out of the dining room and roam the ship without being confronted by any Royal Caribbean security or staff at all. We were enraged and so we went back to the purser's desk to find out why no one had come to question the passenger about what he had done to me. I was then taken into the head of security's office where I was questioned again about hat had happened to me and asked to give another written statement.
I agreed to do so, thinking perhaps this time they would act upon what I was telling them and find the two employees that had witnessed me being sexually assaulted and find the man that had held the camera, along with my assailant. I was assured something would be done about what had happened and that they now knew who my assailant was. However, they would not give us his name. I was still in shock over what all had transpired and I was exhausted physically and emotionally. We decided to just go back to our cabin for the night and try and get some sleep.
On October 21st, the day after being sexually assaulted, we docked in Key West. We got up and went to security to see if they had question my assailant but they informed us he had already gotten off the ship and was now in Key West, but that he would be questioned when he got back on the ship. I was very nervous about getting off the ship, I didn't want to run into my assailant in Key West so we got off the ship briefly and went to the Keno Shoe factory which was very close to where the ship had docked. After spending less than an hour off the ship we returned to the our ship and we went back to security. They asked where we were going to be and we informed them we would be out by the pool. They said they'd be in touch and so we went to the pool area.
While out by the pool I was approached by one of the security staff members and handed a post it that read "here's the number to a FBI Agent you may want to contact on your own" and it gave the number. I immediately called the Agent and she informed me she would be boarding the ship soon and I would be paged when she arrived. Once she arrived I was summoned to the head of security's office to speak to her. A Key West police officer was with her and I gave a formal statement to both of them. I was then informed that because this had happened in international waters it was still a matter to which the ship's security was to handle until my assailant could be question along with the witnesses. I was also informed that she, the FBI Agent, was going to "Strongly suggest" that my assailant be confined to his cabin until we got back to the port of Miami the next morning so he could be interviewed by another FBI Agent because they were making her get off the ship. She also informed me that until his statement and the witnesses statements could be taken in Miami she could not present my case to the Attorney General for a decision to be made as how to handle my sexual assault. She told me that she had told security if they let this man run around the ship, they could be putting other passengers at risk not to mention I could run into him again. She left the ship and I felt like something was finally going to be done to the man that had groped and violated me.
Much to my dismay I saw my assailant walking freely about the ship later that evening after we had let Key West. I was, once again, shocked and my fiance` and I headed back to security. We asked security why he had not been confined to his cabin as the FBI Agent had suggested and were told that they couldn't make him stay in his cabin just based on my word. We were infuriated, why had they not questioned the witnesses? At one point the head of security actually threatened to make my fiance` stay in our cabin if he didn't quit hounding them about the fact that they weren't doing anything. I asked a security staff member what I was suppose to do if I saw him again and I was told "Just walk the other way". We left angered and I felt like I was being violated all over again but this time not by a drunken passenger but rather the very staff that was suppose to serve as protection aboard the ship.
We went to dinner and noticed that my assailant hadn't shown up to the table we had seen him at the night before. We finished dinner and went to go to a small bar so I could have one slow dance with my fiance` at midnight which would then be my 40th birthday, the whole reason we had taken the cruise. We danced one time but I was just not in the mood to celebrate my 40th birthday, I just wanted justice.
We went back to security and I asked to speak to the Captain. I was told by the security staff member that he was "Too busy", and there was "nothing he could do". I told him I wanted the Captain to confiscate the camera that I believed had been used during my assault, in order to preserve evidence. He told me the Captain couldn't do that and he went on to say that "men get drunk all the time and go into the lady's room" and I should just "Deal with it". I could not believe what I was hearing and it became very apparent to me that Royal Caribbean's security staff was not going to do anything to help me.
I barely slept that night and the next morning, October 22nd, our ship arrived back to the Port of Miami. We got up and went downstairs to speak to the FBI Agent from Miami that had boarded to take my assailant's statement and the statement of the man that had been with him at the time he sexually assaulted me. I was informed by this FBI Agent he didn't really need to speak to me since I had already given my statement to the Key West Agent. We headed back to our cabin to get our suit cases.
Cruise Ship Sexual Assault
Kimberley Dean Edwards - Sexually Assaulted
Majesty Of The Seas - October 20, 2004
