A cruiseship employee who claims he suffered distress after being ordered to photograph a gruesome murder scene at sea has had an application to have his case heard in a US court turned down.
Jean Luc Van Wyk, who was employed as an assistant photographer, says he was ordered to document the crime scene after a passenger on the Emerald Princess (built 2007) was murdered at around 10pm on 25 July 2017.
He claims Captain William Kent decided to photograph the scene before the US Coast Guard arrived the next day to conduct a formal investigation.
According to the lawsuit, Kent ordered security officer Jeff Ward to send in Van Wyk to take photos of the cabin and the corpse.
Van Wyk claims he has suffered severe emotional distress, anxiety and panic over the matter.
But US District Judge Ronald SW Lew dismissed the lawsuit on 13 March, ruling that the dispute must go to arbitration in Bermuda, as stipulated in Van Wyk’s employment contract.
The South African resident’s lawyers had been demanding a jury trial in California, saying the circumstances of a murder could never have been imagined when Van Wyk agreed to the arbitration clause.
The complaint against Princess Cruises, Carnival plc and Carnival Corp was lodged on 20 December last year in the US District Court of the Central District of California.
The lawsuit, partly asserting Jones Act negligence, related to the 3,080-passenger Emerald Princess and a seven-day cruise that started in Seattle, Washington, and included ports in Alaska.
“The scene was grotesquely bloodied, contained numerous bloody handprints all over the cabin, splattered blood over the bed sheets and walls, and had pools of blood throughout the cabin.
“The horrific sight of the blood was compounded by the destroyed furniture and items in the cabin showing the struggle before the murder,” the lawsuit states.
While the body was “bloodied” and “mangled from the assault”, Van Wyk “could smell the blood in the room” as he was directed to take nearly 100 photos, it adds.
Van Wyk “immediately began suffering from severe emotional distress, and felt extreme anxiety of nervousness by shaking and panicking” and “was unable to sleep for several nights” afterwards.
The lawsuit highlights the job description of “assistant photo manager”, which said the role involved taking “fun and happy photos”, with no training or responsibilities associated with crime scene investigation.
When Van Wyk complained of post-traumatic stress, the ship’s doctor ordered one day free from duties, during which time Van Wyk was required to print out the murder photos in colour. This caused him “to relive the subject incident and suffer further extreme emotional distress”, according to the lawsuit.the subject incident and suffer further extreme emotional distress”, according to the lawsuit.
