A bartender on the cruise ship Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, convicted on criminal charges of raping an unsuspecting passenger with a room key in his pocket, now faces a civil lawsuit from his cabin roommate. There is. Her roommate is also facing a civil lawsuit for allegedly raping her and impregnating her.
Hoovesh Kumar Dookhi, 24, was charged with abusive sexual contact when the passenger, identified in court documents as HB, sued Classica Cruise Operators Limited over the May 2023 incident. He pleaded guilty and had the harsher initial charge reduced.
Her passenger, identified only as “Jane Doe” or “SE” in court documents, made additional allegations against him in a complaint filed in West Palm Beach, Florida. Her attorney, Spencer Aaronfeld, told the Sun Sentinel that she is waiting to comply with the lawsuit because the alleged incident is still being processed.
The lawsuit, filed in West Palm Beach, Fla., is the second lawsuit against Classica's Margaritaville at Sea cruise line, alleging that on May 5, 2023, a staff member snuck into a room with a stolen key card. , stemming from an incident in which he allegedly sexually assaulted two women. internal. (USA Today Network)
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According to the complaint, Dokey served two women on May 5 while on a cruise from the Port of Palm Beach to the Bahamas.
Ms HB recalled that she returned to her room at around 1am “very drunk” after reaching her 10 drink limit. The women claim Mr Dokki pocketed the key she used to charge drinks to her room without her knowledge.
Dookie entered the room about an hour later, according to court documents.
“HB stated that she was asleep when she was awoken by the male subject touching her breasts, kissing her neck, and penetrating her vagina,” the complaint states.
According to the new complaint, another woman in the room was also aware that Dookie was sexually assaulting her.
One of the women returned to her room exhausted after reaching her 10 drink limit. Without her knowledge, bartender Hubesh Dookhi, 24, had in his pocket the room key card he had used to charge her drinks to her account. Pictured is the public lounge area of the Margaritaville cruise ship. (USA Today Network)
Dookie and the women agree that he took out his cell phone to film himself groping the naked sleeping women. The woman suing in the civil suit also said that after asking her friend to leave so she could get evidence, she pulled out her cell phone and videotaped Dookie sexually assaulting her friend. claims.
In interviews with cruise ship security and FBI agents, the woman recalled that her roommate was asleep during the assault, according to the complaint.
She initially told authorities that SE woke up to Dookie touching her face, and when she told him to stop, he moved on to her friend. She believed Dookie had left the room. However, the ship's key card records show that the HB's key (which had been stolen) was used to re-enter the room about nine minutes later, according to the Washington Post.
The room key left behind by HB was later recovered from Dookie's vest pocket, the complaint alleges.
The exact nature of the sexual assault against the first woman is unknown. However, it is said that she found out she was pregnant a few months later. Aronfeld, who is married and has not had a paternity test, told the Sun Sentinel that at the time of the assault, she and her husband were not sexually active for medical reasons.
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According to Department of Transportation data, sexual assault is the most frequently reported crime on cruise ships, with 30 victims filing allegations of sexual assault in the past three months of 2022. (USA Today Network)
She realizes that the bartender must be her father. Aaronfeld said the woman chose to terminate the pregnancy. She traveled out of state and suffered complications after surgery.
The woman is seeking $75,000 in damages from Margaritaville. The lawsuit comes two months after U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg denied the first woman's claim for punitive damages against the cruise liner. palm beach post report.
The Washington Post reported that Dookie admitted in an interview with FBI agents that he had been drinking that night. He initially claimed the sex with HB was consensual, but in October he took a plea deal to avoid a life sentence, the Palm Beach newspaper reported.
Sentencing on the criminal charges against the bartender is scheduled for January 11, and could result in a sentence of up to two years in prison, the newspaper said.
He is currently being held at FDC Miami, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
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Fox News Digital could not reach Dookie's attorney Peter Birch or the cruise company for comment at the time of reporting.
“He's probably in denial,” Aronfeld told the Sun Sentinel. “I don't know. But assuming this incident happened as described, there's really no defence.”
According to Department of Transportation data, sexual assault is the most commonly reported crime on cruise ships. Cruise crime statistics released for the past three months of 2022 show that 30 sexual assaults were reported across 13 cruise lines, with 21 victims naming other passengers as their attackers.
More than 500 sexual assault reports were filed by passengers on major cruise ships between 2010 and 2022, the Palm Beach Post reported.
