Accused Royal Caribbean Cruises Rapist Sues Bahamas for Spending Four Nights in Jail After Acquital
One of the categories I have for my Cruise Law News blog is "weird cruise news."
Why such a category?
For stories just like this:
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The Nassau Guardian published an article today about a Royal Caribbean crewmember, employed as a stateroom attendant, who was accused of raping a young woman on Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas cruise ship.
The incident involved a student from Florida State University who reported being raped back in 2006 on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship while it was docked in Nassau.
The accused crewmember was Ruel Lockwood from Nicaragua. He used his key card to enter the young woman's cabin with a key card, which he used to enter cabins to clean them, and then allegedly commit the rape.
Why Royal Caribbean lets single men have key cards to women's cabins on their cruise ships remains an unpleasant mystery for me.
I was young Jane Doe's Miami counsel, appointed by the Washington D.C. law firm of Winston & Strawn to act as co-counsel for Jane Doe after the shipboard rape.
Convincing juries in foreign countries to convict a cruise ship employee for raping an American woman is a daunting task, especially when the cruise line sent its defense lawyers to Nassau to assist the Bahamian criminal defense lawyers defend the case - which we alleged in the lawsuit filed against Royal Caribbean.
Yes, as expected, the jury in the Bahamas acquitted the cruise line employee accused of the rape. The legitimacy of the verdict should be considered with the fact that Royal Caribbean paid $1,500,000.00 to settle the civil case where we alleged that the crewmember raped our client.
In my opinion, cruise lines don't pay that type of compensation if a rape did not occur.
Now here comes the weird part.
After crewmember Lockwood was acquitted, he remained in jail for 4 days in Nassau. For that, he sued the Bahamas for "unlawful detention." Although he spent months and months in jail for the rape charges, he is now seeking damages for the 4 days he spent in jail after the jury acquitted him.
Crewmember Lockwood should count his blessings for not spending the next 20 years of his life in the bowels of the Nassau jails.
Seeking compensation for 4 days in jail after his "acquittal" of raping an innocent coed during a cruise is a sick joke.
Photo Credit: usscusk.com
Jim Walker practices maritime personal injury law. Jim has been involved in maritime litigation since 1983. Based in Miami, Florida,
