A newspaper in Italy reports that two days ago police arrested a 51 year old crew member, who had gone ashore in Livorno, on charges of sexual assaulting a child believed to be around 7 to 8 years old.
The crew member is identified as a Filipino bar tender who arrived in Livorno on an unidentified cruise ship in port. He took a bus into the city and come across a group of school children when, according to an eye witness, he allegedly sexually molested the child. The witness who observed the incident immediately alerted the teachers who accompanied the student group, while the 51 year old man attempted to get away. The witness followed at a distance without losing sight of the man and reported the alleged incident to the police who arrested him. Other bystanders were threatening to attack the man.
According to the Crew Center website which reported on the alleged crime, there were five cruise ships in the port of Livorno that day: the Azamara Quest, Holland America Line Eurodam, Norwegian Epic, and Pullmantur Sovereign.
Livorno is a major port called on by many cruise lines where passengers can take excursions to Pisa, Florence, or the Cinque Terre region.
Although this incident, if true, took off of the cruise ship, it should act as a reminder that pedophiles, both crew members and passengers, exist on cruises just like in your home town. One of the first articles I wrote when I started this blog several years ago dealt with this issue – Perverts, Child Predators and Cruise Ships.
May 29 2016 Update: The bartender, I have learned, was reportedly employed aboard HAL’s Eurodam.
Photo Credit: Luca Aless – CC BY-SA 3.0, commons / wikimedia