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Cruise Worker Says He Raped, Tried to Throw Woman Overboard

Ketut Pujayasa, a employee for Holland America Line, admitted to raping and attempting to throw a passenger overboard, authorities said Tuesday.
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A cruise ship employee was arrested Tuesday after he confessed to raping a passenger.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ketut Pujayasa is an Indonesian citizen who worked as a room-service attendant on the ship. He told authorities he assaulted the 31-year-old woman as revenge for an incident that reportedly occurred earlier that morning. (Via Broward County Sheriff's Office)

Pujayasa had supposedly knocked on the woman's door several times to deliver breakfast. She responded, saying, “Wait a minute, son of a [blank]!” (Via WTVJ)

According to the FBI report, "Pujayasa stated that the passenger's comment...was offensive to himself and his parents. He was angry and upset the rest of the day."" (Via New York Daily News)

WFTS reports, Pujayasa then came into her room in the middle of the night, raped, beat and strangled her. But it didn’t stop there.

“After the attack, she claims he tried to throw her from her balcony into the ocean somewhere off the coast of Honduras.” 

During the attack, the Sun Sentinel reports —

“The woman told agents she bit her attackers hand, struck him in the genitals and tried to stab him with a corkscrew that she was able to grab.” The paper writes, "Pujayasa said he stopped the attack because someone was persistently knocking on the woman's stateroom door.”

He then fled to his cabin, where he told his roommate to alert ship security because he thought he’d killed someone. WTVJ tells what happened next for the woman.

“Covered in blood and wearing nothing but a tank top, the victim found another passenger in the hall, who administered first aid.”

Calling it a “senseless assault,” officials from Holland America Line — the cruise liner involved — said the company is shaken by the event. Pujayasa has no reported criminal history.

He was reportedly detained on the Caribbean charter cruise, then fired and sent to jail upon returning to Fort Lauderdale. (Via Broward County Sheriff's Office)