How a teenage girl, 18, barging naked into a stranger's cabin after a raunchy threesome on a cruise ship is critical to whether a tradie who picked up on his Schoolies Week holiday is awarded $400,000
- After tryst in cruise cabin, teenage girl walked into another stateroom naked
- Tradesman Daniel Rawlings was later wrongly accused of raping the teen
- Rawlings is suing Royal Caribbean for $400,000 over his imprisonment
- Captain Rick Sullivan was grilled by a barrister for tradesman Daniel Rawlings
- He was detained for six days of a 10 day cruise over false rape claim
A teenage girl walked into a stranger's cruise ship cabin naked following a threesome with a tradesman and another girl - before false claims flew that he had raped her, a court has heard.
Captain Rick Sullivan of the Explorer of the Seas was grilled by a barrister for Sydney air conditioner technician Daniel Rawlings at the New South Wales District Court on Tuesday.
Mr Rawlings is suing liner Royal Caribbean for $400,000 after he was locked up for six days of his 10 day holiday cruise after the wrongful claims were made in November 2016.
The court heard the undressed 18-year-old - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was seen on CCTV footage walking from room-to-room, trying to open the doors of other staterooms after a late-night romp with Daniel Rawlings and another teenage girl.
Pictured is Captain Rick Sullivan (with a passenger unrelated to the case), who was in command of the Explorer of the Seas at the time when Daniel Rawlings, 32, formerly of Fairlight, Sydney, was falsely accused of rape
Rawlings (left and right, with a friend unrelated to the case), is suing Royal Caribbean for $400,000 after he was detained for six days of his 10 day cruise over a false rape allegation
The woman had fallen ill during the three-way romp, cleaned herself up, and continued having sex, the court has heard.
Later, in the early hours of the morning, Captain Sullivan told the court the woman was 'obviously in a hurry' to get out of the stateroom, leaving her clothes behind.
'There was CCTV footage showing a young lady leaving a stateroom into a corridor, naked, and trying to find another place to go,' the seafarer said via video link.
'This is highly unusual, not anything we normally see on a cruise.'
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The teenager could not remember what happened in the room with the tradesman and the other woman, the court heard. But the other girl present told police that the sex was consensual.
Captain Sullivan had claimed in his statement to the court that the young woman was 'disoriented' when she was found in the strange cabin.
'Yes - she was found naked in someone else's cabin and I would assume from that she was disoriented, she was not in her correct cabin,' he told the court.
But Mr Rawlings' lawyer said the teenager had entered the room and was found by its occupant 'after she had used the bathroom, used the toilet'.
The teenager was described as 'very calm, but smelled of alcohol', and barrister David Stanton put to the captain: 'Those words don't suggest any disorientation, do they?'
Captain Sullivan responded that 'smelling of alcohol could indicate she was under the influence.'
The tradesman was on board the Explorer of the Seas in November 2016, holidaying with a pal - but it turned to disaster and he was imprisoned for days
Rawlings is on left during an evening out with his friend Matthew Champion - who was 'low key' during the holiday
The lady occupying the cabin the teenager walked into later took her to the ship's medical centre.
She later tested negative to drugs, the court heard.
The captain believed he confined Mr Rawlings on the basis he believed the teenager was 'intoxicated and not in a position to consent'.
But her blood alcohol reading was only 0.015, a third of the legal driving limit in NSW, Mr Stanton said.
The captain told the court the purported victim's mother 'was very emotional' in a meeting.T
he court heard the mother said 'words to the effect of, 'she would throw him (Mr Rawlings) off the balcony if he was released'.'
Mr Sullivan said: 'I did feel that if they did meet each other it could cause another type of incident that, not necessarily would have led to Mr Rawlings going overboard, but conflict for sure.'
Mr Rawlings' barrister Mr Stanton told the court that it was only his client who was confined to isolation, not the other threesome participant nor Mr Rawlings' best mate Matthew Champion.
The Captain gave his evidence via video link from the Symphony of the Seas
'The only person who threatened any violence was (the plaintiff's mother), do you agree?' he asked.
The captain replied: 'We certainly did not want her to have the opportunity to meet Mr Rawlings in case there was an interaction between the two.
'We know it was a highly charged and emotional response so we needed to be sure they didn't meet'.
He described Mr Rawlings as 'the ringleader' of the incident as he had 'organised everyone to be together'.
Captain Sullivan admitted never speaking to Mr Rawlings about releasing him from custody with conditions to stop him speaking to witnesses.
Mr Stanton put to the captain that the easiest thing was to 'lock him up until (Mr Rawlings) returned to Sydney'.
The captain said it was 'the safest thing to preserve evidence so he could not collaborate a story with other people.'
Police in New Caledonia and Vanuatu refused to investigate the matter, and it was only when the ship docked in Sydney that NSW Police interviewed witnesses.
Captain Sullivan also claimed he wasn't aware that a security guard had emailed the cruise liner's security office and Vanuatu authorities within 'two minutes' of 'being informed a female guest had been found naked in an unrelated guestroom'.
The email was headlined 'crime allegation to report'.
The cruise ship was travelling from Sydney to Vanuatu, return, at the time. Above, an island near Port Vila
Police boarded the Explorer of the Seas cruise ship when it docked at Circular Quay in November 2016 and questioned Rawlings over the threesome incident. No charges were laid
No charges have ever been laid against Mr Rawlings, who was investigated by NSW Police when the ship eventually returned to Sydney.
The captain told the court he wasn't aware Mr Rawlings had been confined in his underwear for days, but he knew he had asked to see a counsellor while in isolation.
Mr Rawlings claims he has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression over his imprisonment.
Earlier this week, the court heard that during the night before the threesome, Rawlings's companion fell ill after going back to the tradesman's room for sex.
She may have been 'twitching with her eyes rolling back into her head', the court heard.
''I'd never actually had vodka mixed with Red Bull before because it's not a good drink,' the woman told the court during a tearful appearance.
The hearings continue this week in front of Judge John Hatzistergos.
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