Bahamas beach resort denies 2 Kentucky moms alleged sex abuse, while Carnival Cruses blames Dongayla Dobson and Amber Shearer for going on independent excursion to Pirates Cove as the two mothers now lawyer up as they seek justice.
Not our fault! The Bahamas beach resort where two Kentucky moms claim they were drugged and sexually assaulted at the hands of two workers has claimed their version of events does not add up.
The statements come off the back of Carnival Cruises who insist they are not to blame for the two womens’ alleged sex abuse on account of the two holidaying women having gone off on their own ‘independent excursion.’
Dongayla Dobson and Amber Shearer, both 31, say they were attacked by uniformed staff on February 4 at Pirate’s Cove beach resort on Grand Bahama, during an excursion from their Carnival Cruises ship.
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They claim the men gave them spiked cocktails then attacked them after leading them away to collect seashells.
Two men were arrested but Bahamian police are yet to reveal their identities.
Police have not named the suspects, with a previous report stating one of the alleged suspects being connected to a powerful figure on the islands who is leveraging his influence to secure his brother’s release.
The women say the incident was caught on surveillance camera footage that they viewed – along with police – before returning to the ship.
But in a statement today, Pirate Cove says the video does not support their story.
Carnival Cruises says women went on ‘independent excursion’
‘Upon further review of the surveillance videos, the allegations made onsite, and in subsequent social media posts and news stories, conflict with what the time-stamped surveillance videos contain,’ Pirate’s Cove beach resort said in a statement according to the dailymail.
‘While there is an active police investigation into these serious allegations, we have terminated the employment of the two accused, as the behavior seen on tape by management indicates that at a minimum, they violated our zero-tolerance policy.’
Carnival, meanwhile, has insisted the two friends were not part of the $57 excursions to the beach that they offer.
The cruise company’s website is still selling the trips for passengers who dock at the islands, promising ‘true Bahamian relaxation’.
Bahamas getaway gone bad
Instead, they say the women ventured out alone.
‘While ashore in Freeport, Bahamas on an independent shore excursion, two guests on Carnival Elation reported to Bahamian police that they were sexually assaulted at a local beach,’ Carnival said in a statement according to the dailymail.
‘Our onboard Care Team provided support for the two guests as they sailed back to Jacksonville. Bahamian police are investigating the matter and Carnival is providing our full cooperation.’
The two women left Jacksonville, Florida, on February 1 for their first ever kid-free trip overseas.
Dobson said they saw Carnival’s adverts for Pirate’s Cove and on the final day of the four-day cruise and went for it.
‘There were other people from the cruise on the beach so there weren’t red flags for us,’ the mom told the dailymail.
The same week the U.S. put out a travel warning on the Bahamas, 2 American women thought they were enjoying a drink on the beach as their Carnival cruise ship was docked, but instead, Amber Shearer and Dongayla Dobson say staff members at a resort drugged and raped them…then… pic.twitter.com/LxOUM0AqBJ
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 8, 2024
‘We were treated like criminals’
Carnival advertises the resort on its website claiming: ‘The experienced, hospitable, and cordial staff will ensure you have a memorable visit’.
When they arrived, they say they were approached by two men who they thought to be resort hospitality offering them drinks.
‘We thought the drinks were really strong but Dongayla and I are gastric sleeve patients so we don’t really drink much,’ Shearer explained.
‘Less than a few drinks into the second drink we knew something was terribly wrong.’
They say the two men offered to help them find shells to take home to their children and led them away from where they’d been sitting on the beach.
‘The guy this staff worker that was there said I know where tons of these are.’
From there, they say their memory becomes hazy.
‘I remember waking up and getting pushed down,’ Dobson recalled.
Slipping in and out of consciousness, the two women say they noticed the two men were in uniform.
‘I woke up in the resort bathroom and there were people all around, and I just felt dirtiness on my legs, and I knew what had happened. They told us we had been throwing up -which is a good thing because the drugs would have killed us.’
The women claim their ordeal only worsened when Bahamian police showed up, claiming they refused to give them rape kits despite repeated requests.
Bahamas Police criticize Kentucky moms
‘We were treated as criminals and refused rape kits after asking repeatedly. We were forced to show where our rapes took place and to face the men who raped us,’ Shearer said.
‘There was an American FNP (family nurse practitioner) who tried to stay with us and was refused that right. We were told if we went to a Bahamian hospital they wouldn’t help us return to the US.’
The women claimed they were taken to a bathroom, ‘forced to urinate’ and ‘wipe away the evidence’.
‘They had us change out of the one-piece swimsuits and into our swimsuit covers,’ Dobson told NewsNation.
‘They told us that if we wanted any justice any rape kits we would have to go to the Bahamian hospital however the US Embassy had already refused to help us so we would be on our own and would have to pay our own way back. But we didn’t have passports.
‘I talked to the US Embassy today and they never contacted them at all.’
Lawyers for women insist Carnival Cruises owed mom’s obligation of safety
It was only back on the boat that they were given a rape kit test.
They also say an on-ship toxicology report revealed they had cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in their system.
There was no alcohol in their system, they said, suggesting the ‘cocktails’ they thought they were drinking were in fact booze-free mixes of drugs instead.
The State Department is yet to comment on the women’s ordeal.
But the Royal Bahamas Police criticized the moms’ accounts, Wednesday night, insisting that they treat all sexual assaults ‘with the highest level of professionalism, privacy and sensitivity’.
Emergency Medical Services offered medical assistance to the victims, which they declined, signing a waiver and then leaving for their cruise ship in a private vehicle.
‘Recognizing the gravity of the incident, our officers boarded the cruise ship, providing a sexual assault kit and hospital form to the ship’s medical doctor and obtained signed statements from the victims.’
The police said they were now working with the FBI on the case and had appointed Woman Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shanta Knowles, to ‘personally ensure that the investigation is conducted with the utmost level of professionalism and care.’
The US State Department issued two travel warnings for the country at the end of January advising ‘extreme caution’ after a spate of daylight murders and sexual assaults.
But the pair, who had never left the US before, have since accused Carnival Cruises of failing to alert them to the warnings.
‘We had no idea what was going on in the Bahamas, none whatsoever,’ they told NewsNation.
‘We were targeted from the moment we were spotted,‘ said Dobson.
‘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, told NewsNation.
‘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.’
Added the lawyer further via WHAS11: ‘Carnival bears some responsibility for the women’s mishaps and that Carnival has an obligation to warn about dangerous conditions that they know about or should know about. They also have an obligation that the areas that they are recommending to passengers, to tourists is safe.’
Carnival said in response that staff on board its ships routinely share guidance with guests on keeping safe while ashore.’
Pirate’s Cove said it would share its video footage with the police and with its ‘industry partners’, while Carnival reissued the Bahamian Police’s statement.
