- by Met
The local tourism industry is again under intense scrutiny in the wake of a fresh report of an alleged sexual assault.
A 45 year-old professional makeup artist, Melissa Blayton, told ABC News that she was sexually assaulted by an employee at a Sandals resort in Jamaica last year.
She also accused the hotel chain of mishandling the reporting of her case to authorities.
Ms Blayton said the incident occurred in spring 2017 when one of the hotel’s employees offered her a solo sailing lesson.
She said she knew something was wrong when she realised they were sailing much farther out than other sailboats from the resort that had gone out at the same time.
Ms Blayton said the man later got on top of her and began kissing her.
The woman said he tried pinning her down, but she was able to get enough leverage to push him off of her.
Ms Blayton then demanded that the man take her back to shore.
She said a butler saw her crying and told her to tell the manager what happened.
The manager reportedly went to her room and asked what happened and if she knew the man’s name.
She said she showed the manager a photo of the accused.
After Ms Blayton was done recapping what happened to her, the manager left and came back 30 minutes later with a piece of paper.
When Blayton asked the manager if she should call police after reporting the assault, the manager reportedly told her they would take care of it and quickly offered her a voucher for $4,500 for a future trip, which came attached with a nondisclosure agreement.
Ms Blayton said the manager also told her that the employee had been fired that day.
Adam Stewart, Deputy Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, told ABC News that he is aware of “around 10” incidents of sexual assaults at their resorts.
However, Mr. Stewart said the company has strict safety and security protocols and the police are always called in relation to criminal matters.
He also defended the hotel’s handling of the issue when asked whether he thought offering someone who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by one of his employees a refund and a non-disclosure agreement was the proper way of handling such as situation.
“Our security protocols are crystal clear. They’re in place, they have served the company very well over the years. We follow them to the book to ensure that we take care of our clients and their safety,” he declared.
Dirty adam stewart not answering the question sandals has been covering up and participating in crime from their establishment same way the covered up the claudia kirshoc or wtv she name murder
I believe her, I went there, ochi Rios location, and 1 of the guys that strings up the sound, approached me! Telling me how he would stick me, and more. They are desperate looking for someone to con.
Sandals is not some place that one expects to hear about things of this nature because it is a couples resort. Shit, you don’t hear about this shit at Hedonism, where one would expect to hear shit like this. Sandals is a very good employer that takes care of their ppl, so these employees should not work to destroy the brand. Dem fi start run psychological tests pon di applicants cause it seems like too many rotten apples getting tourism jobs.
Be careful what you believe there are many woman who come to these hotels with their sugar daddy then they flirt and sleep around with the staff and when they get caught they claim rape or sexual harassment.