Cruise ship worker rapes and strangles passenger before trying to throw her overboard

A cruise worker has admitted raping, strangling and beating a female passenger before trying to throw her overboard.

Ketut Pujayasa, 28, told police he carried out the attack on Thursday 14 February near Roatan, Honduras, because he had become angered over a slight she'd made to him earlier in the day.

The woman was on a Bare Necessities nudist cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam ship, reports the Daily Mail.

Pujayasa, who worked for Holland America Line, said he delivered breakfast to the woman and knocked three times before she reportedly said, "Wait a minute, son of a bitch!"

He stated in a police report that the comment was an insult to him and his family and that he was "angry and upset for the rest of the day", reports the Sun Sentinel.

That evening, he used a master key to sneak back into her room, where he waited on the balcony for her to return.

When the 31-year-old woman returned, he began choking and punching her, hitting her with a laptop and curling iron, as well as using the curling iron cord to strangle her in an attempt to silence her screams.

The report added the woman "then continued to fight for her life by all means available including striking Pujayasa's exposed genitals as well as utilizing a corkscrew in an attempt to stab him."

The attacker then decided to try and throw her overboard to conceal his involvement, but was stopped by somebody incessantly banging on her door. The woman managed to break free and make a run for it.

The man escaped by jumping from balcony to balcony, still naked from the waist down. When he made it back to his cabin, he told is roommate to call security because he believed he had killed a passenger.

According to the NY Daily News, the criminal report said the passenger who had been knocking on the door saw the woman run out of her cabin dressed only in a tank top covered in blood and "noted that (the victim) had a curling iron wrapped and tangled around her neck and/or hair. He also described (her) as having black eyes and visible bruising around her neck and shoulders. (The woman), fearing death was imminent, asked the passenger to relay to her family how much she loved them."

The woman was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in South Florida as soon as the ship docked in Honduras on Valentine's Day.

Pujayasa was detained on the ship until it returned to the Port Everglades, Florida, on Sunday.

Holland America Line paid for the victim's family to fly to South Florida to be by her bedside. They said Pujayasa had been hired in 2012 after "a careful screening that included a clean criminal history check. He had no performance issues and came with good references."

A company statement added: "We continue to work closely with authorities to understand how this incident occurred and what additional actions we can take to help ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Related articles

Elderly British couple 'seriously injured' in cruise ship attack

Terrifying moment cruise ship passenger falls 100ft overboard