Cruise ship worker jailed for 30 years for raping and beating passenger
A cruise ship worker has been jailed for 30 years for 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 2014 near Roatan, Honduras, because he had become angry after he felt slighted by her earlier in the day.
The woman was on a Bare Necessities nudist cruise on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam ship, reported 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 came back into her cabin, 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 utilising 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.
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 Port Everglades, where he was arrested by FBI.
At the time, Holland America said it had hired Pujayasa in 2012 and had carried out "a careful screening that included a clean criminal history check. He had no performance issues and came with good references."
According to the Independent, Holland America released another statement after his sentencing in federal court last week, saying it was relieved to see justice prevail and that its thoughts and prayers were with the victim.
The Local 10 reports that Pujayasa will be deported to his native Indonesia after serving his sentence.
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