Quantum of the Seas crewmember pleaded guilty to sex attack of passenger; threatened to set fire to ship if she told

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The Royal Caribbean Quantum of The Seas
The Royal Caribbean Quantum of The Seas

Royal Caribbean crewmember admits sexually attacking sleeping passenger

 

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NEWARK, NJ (April 24, 2015) —The FBI reports that  Mauritius man today admitted sexually abusing a sleeping woman aboard a cruise ship, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announced.

Karan Seechurn, 25, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of abusive sexual contact.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Seechurn was employed by a cruise line and was responsible for restocking the minibars located in passengers’ rooms. In order to conduct this duty, he was provided with a key that gave him access to passengers’ rooms. Seechurn admitted that on Dec. 23, 2014, while he was off-duty, he entered a passenger’s room and encountered a sleeping woman. Seechurn admitted that he touched the passenger’s genitalia while she was asleep.

The abusive sexual contact charge to which Seechurn pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August 3, 2015.

The federal government has special maritime jurisdiction over sexual abuse cases, such as those that occur on cruise ships.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Williams of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crime Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Linda Foster Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark.

From Cruise Law News

A Royal Caribbean crew member pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a cruise passenger last year, according to a New Jersey newspaper.

NJ.com reports that Karan Seechurn of Mauritius, an employee who worked aboard the Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas, pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact.

In December of last year, crew member Seechurm (a mini-bar attendant) used a master key while he Karan Seechurn Royal Caribbean Cruisewas off-duty to enter a woman’s cabin and molested the woman while she was sleeping.

As we wrote last year, it’s a dangerous practice to give male cabin attendants or mini-bar attendants a master key to passenger cabins. Prior sexual assaults have occurred on Royal Caribbean ships under similar circumstances. Royal Caribbean touts the Quantum as the most technological advanced cruise ship on the high seas. It’s too bad that the cruise line didn’t use old school technology and deactivate the master keys and cards to passenger cabins after hours.

 


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