Two mothers from Kentucky have come forward with allegations of being drugged and raped by staff at a Bahamas resort on Sunday, following a travel warning issued by the US for the popular vacation destination. The two women have blamed Carnival Cruises of failing to alert them to a State Department warning against visiting the country.
Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson, long-time friends, recounted a traumatic experience during their first child-free vacation. They claim to have been sexually assaulted in broad daylight when they visited the beach after their Carnival cruise ship docked in the Bahamas. The two women, who are still in trauma, are now warning all other women.
Sexually Abused by Hotel Staff
Shearer and Dobson, both 31-year-old moms allege that they were assaulted on the final day of their four-day cruise after the ship docked at Freeport in Grand Bahama on Sunday. "You need to be aware because our cruise line did not make us aware of a travel advisory," Shearer told NewsNation on Wednesday.
"We had no idea what was going on in the Bahamas, none whatsoever.
"I just want people to be safe. Dongayla and I, we've been together for two decades as best friends we thought we could protect each other and be safe and it's not enough."
The two women were relaxing on a Grand Bahama beach when they were approached by a resort staff member who offered them a two-for-one drink deal, they told NewsNation.
They accepted the offer and even took photos with the tropical drinks – one served in a pineapple and the other in a coconut.
However, they soon realized that the drinks were much stronger than expected. Concerns grew back home as the women sent videos appearing highly intoxicated just 15 minutes after their first sips, according to Dobson's statement to the station.
"Less than a few [sips] into the second drink, we knew something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong," Shearer said.
They then started searching for seashells to bring back for their children when a male resort staff member offered to guide them to the best spot for finding shells.
However, the next thing Shearer could recall was waking up while being raped by a uniformed male resort staffer. "I came to in the process of my rape," she told NewsNation, breaking down.
Raped and Left Alone
Bahamian authorities, along with other resort staff, soon identified the two men accused of the assault at 12 p.m. through surveillance footage. Shearer said that one of the attackers had been employed by the resort for just about a week.
The Royal Bahamas police took swift action and arrested two men, a 40-year-old from South Bahamia and a 54-year-old from Eight Mile Rock, in connection to the sexual assault, as mentioned in a news release by the department.
While the police investigation is ongoing, the women argue that their allegations were not properly handled, claiming that local police did not administer proper rape test kits despite their requests.
On the cruise ship, the mothers received the results of their toxicology tests, which indicated a presence of various drugs in their systems, including benzodiazepines. Their tests also revealed minimal alcohol levels and evidence of bruising on their legs, as reported by Kentucky NBC affiliate station Lex18.
"To see the things that showed up on my [toxicology] screen was just traumatizing all over again," Dobson said.
The U.S. State Department issued two travel warnings at the end of January, cautioning travelers to exercise 'extreme caution' due to a series of daylight murders and sexual assaults but the cruise ship still proceeded to dock at the Caribbean nation.
Now back in Kentucky, the women have hired a lawyer to seek justice and are undergoing medical care, including the use of $4,000 HIV prevention medication, as reported by the local station.
"One of the issues with Carnival specifically in this case is they have a legal duty to warn about dangerous conditions they should have known about," the women's attorney, Nicholas Gerson, said.
"There is a federal statues the Cruise Chip Vessel Safety and Security Act 2010 that requires victims of crime at high seas they are supposed to offer them contact with the FBI, none of that was offered.
"Carnival actually markets this particular excursion on their website, they actually profit from the excursion. So Carnival should have warned our clients, the warning shouldn't have come from the State Department."
Five days prior to the assault on the mothers, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis had claimed that the country was a "safe" destination for tourists.
