Teen accuses RCI employee of rape

[Aquahound]

Consensual? At 17? Really?

 

Well, yes and no. To the best of my research, Florida law would be what's applied in this particular case. The FL law that applies says it's illegal for anyone over 24 to have sex with anyone under 18. So no, in this case she could not consent. And how she looked at the time is no defense for the 31 year old, according to law.

 

This isn't opinion of what happened, just a little info on the applicable law.

[2010_cruisers]

No means no at any age. No means no for boys or girls, men and women.

 

For centurires people hae put themslees into places of authopirty or cotrol oer others........young girls sneaking out of a castle or some 16th century villa to meet their so called Prince to frolic behid a garden bush (maybe just to hug, talk, steal a mount - as they hae not seen each other in months) to the be forced into somethis she may not of fully wanted......it happens for your teenagers who have their womanly-teacher spend extra-timer with them after class and it leads to the young boy falling prey...it goes both ways.......it is wrong...right..

 

On cruise ships......in office situations.....at out own homes...if he or she says no..............it should stop.....

 

If someones guard is down or blurred, and they feel uncomfortable, unsafe, taken advantage, un-trusting... of by their initial choice, even during the situation....No, means no.

[ryano]

And how she looked at the time is no defense for the 31 year old, according to law.

 

 

In all this heated debate and arguing back and forth, I have totally missed where anything listed the guys age.

 

Could you kindly point me to the article that listed his age?

 

Thanks :)

[Stags14]

No we cannot all agree that she consentually was having sex - that is your best guess on something you know nothing about.

 

I blows my mind the ignorance that is being shown on here. Thank goodness there are really not that many people in the world that have any interest in this site. The behaviour on here by some is absolutely disgusting.

 

Oh my god... I've said a MILLION times that IF she asked to leave he should have allowed her to, and that we do NOT know when she actually asked to leave. And it blows my ming how naieve people here are that you don't think going "home" with a guy after drinking all night means hookup. The article says that "after some time she came to" which tells me she was gladly participating in the majority of the afterparty.

 

They didn't drag her back to the room and force her clothes off did they? I'm sure if they did, it would state that, sure doesn't seem like it to me. She was participating and then changed her mind at SOME POINT. Likely, in the middle of having sex, or afterwards. Again, I agree that if at any time any woman regardless of age changes their mind that decision should be honored. But this world isn't perfect, especially when it's in the middle of having sex, or for all we know, afterwards. Or maybe, they refused to give her/erase the pictures and this is when she broke down? Either way, she needs to be responsible for what SHE did in this. She's going off to college next year - this stuff happens every single night.

 

Consensual? At 17? Really?

 

17 is old enough to give consent. Yes. She's off to college in the Fall, do you not think college students have sex either?

 

Consent does change at this age when they are intoxicated though - but these are state laws that are different everywhere. However, she may have 1)lied about her age or 2) never even discussed age. I'm sure you've seen some 17yr olds and many of them today can be confused for 25.

 

I'm not condoning rape here guys... I'm just saying that there are usually 3 sides to every story. And she has to be responsible for her participation - she's not exactly the little angel in this situation. It's not like she was walking back to her room and they grabbed her in the hallway and raped her. She participated.

[ryano]

 

17 is old enough to give consent. Yes. She's off to college in the Fall, do you not think college students have sex either?

 

 

Here is another thing to think about. There are MANY 17 year olds that got pregnant and had children including the daughter of one very famous (or infamous) ex Governor......I think its just a bit presumptuous to imply they were all raped.

[Stags14]

Well, yes and no. To the best of my research, Florida law would be what's applied in this particular case. The FL law that applies says it's illegal for anyone over 24 to have sex with anyone under 18. So no, in this case she could not consent. And how she looked at the time is no defense for the 31 year old, according to law.

 

This isn't opinion of what happened, just a little info on the applicable law.

 

I just looked up this law - you are correct (in CT the legal age of consent is 16). But.. according to this law if the singer was 24 or older it would have automatically been a felony offense regardless of anything (which by the way, I don't agree with IF she lied about her age).

 

Actually, according to this law if he was 24 or older he is charged automatically. So, this is interesting. My views do not change but the law is the law... if he fits the description above he needs to be charged with a felony.

[Aquahound]

In all this heated debate and arguing back and forth, I have totally missed where anything listed the guys age.

 

Could you kindly point me to the article that listed his age?

 

Thanks :)

 

Ryano, thank you for asking this. It was mentioned somewhere in this thread he was 31, so I think that age just stuck with me. I just went back and read the 2 articles and neither of them mention his age. If he was under 24, 17 is legal to consent.

 

* Edit - Chef Christoph found it. He was 31. Thanks!

[chef_christoph]

In all this heated debate and arguing back and forth, I have totally missed where anything listed the guys age.

 

Could you kindly point me to the article that listed his age?

 

Thanks :)

 

Here are two links I found with a quick bing search...there may be others that indicate his age as well but these are the two I was able to find quickly.

 

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/05/royal_caribbean_sued_after_17-.php

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2011/05/articles/sexual-assault-of-minors/latest-royal-caribbean-rape-allegation-reveals-problem-of-underage-drinking-on-cruises/

[CruisenLexie]

There are way too many facts missing from this story and how much of what is in the paper can you really believe.

 

Did the girl get raped? If she said no then she was raped. I don't care if she was walking around naked. If she was able to speak and said no or wait or stop or anything else and he has sex with her it was rape. If she was unaware of her surroundings and unable to consent, it was rape. Maybe she did not say no and went along with it until she saw the photographer and then she freaked out. Both parties made bad decisions. If she was raped her's will be with her for the rest of her life while him and his photographer buddy just walk away (and yes I know he lost his job but if he raped her he's lucky that's all he lost). If she wrongly accused him of rape she will have to live with that guilt for the rest of her life and fortunately he was not charged.

 

As to the parents. Were they sharing a cabin? Were they traveling with other friends, relatives, chldren? Assuming they ate dinner together did they separate at 8:30 or 10:30? Were they even on the ship? the one article says her mom saved up to put her on the cruise. So do we even know if mom and dad were on the cruise or was only mom on? Was it a senior cruise and she roomed with another senior? Over what span of time did this this happen? Unless I missed it the article did not say when he took her to his room. All the lounges don't play till 2 am do they? This could have happened over a 2-3 hour time period. You can certaily drink enough in an hour to get pretty snookered if you aren't a drinker. I don't think parents who leave their 17-18 year old daughter alone on a ship for 2-3 hours are terrible parents. We don't know if she was found at midnight or 3 am. What I feel comfortable saying is that she was looking for attention or she is really nieve and she ended up in a bad situation.

[Stags14]

Here are two links I found with a quick bing search...there may be others that indicate his age as well but these are the two I was able to find quickly.

 

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/05/royal_caribbean_sued_after_17-.php

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2011/05/articles/sexual-assault-of-minors/latest-royal-caribbean-rape-allegation-reveals-problem-of-underage-drinking-on-cruises/

 

I guess the ship doesn't operate off Florida law then. I don't the drinks were as forced as they make them out to be... and I think she probably mentioned leaving when the photographer appeared. Which is pretty starange. I don't know.. but according to law - this is in fact rape. But according to me, nobody this age should be in a bar in the first place - he still may not have known how old she was (yes, I know it doesn't make it right but I don't think it's fair to guys that they have to worry about age in a bar). I doubt he asked to see her sea pass, or ID.