KEY POINTS:
P&O flew an Australian home two days after staff were told he had raped a New Zealand woman during a luxury South Pacific voyage.
The 37-year-old from Maroubra in suburban Sydney was allowed to leave the Pacific Star when it arrived in Lifou, New Caledonia, a day after the rape claim was reported about 4am on New Year's Eve.
The Herald Sun in Melbourne reported the alleged rapist was allowed to return home without being charged.
The woman, who appeared to have been beaten, told New Caledonian police the man raped her in his cabin while the ship was docked, but she said she was too drunk to recall all the details, local sources said.
P&O has struggled to rebuild its reputation after the high-profile death of Australian Dianne Brimble on one of its ships in September 2002.
In the latest case, it also paid for the 47-year-old complainant to leave her eight-day cruise and return home.
"We gave both of the passengers the opportunity to leave the ship if they wished, and both took that up," P&O spokeswoman Sandy Olsen said.
The decision was made with the knowledge of New Caledonian police, who boarded the ship and took charge of the investigation, Ms Olsen said.
The police would not confirm this yesterday.
P&O staff sealed off the man's cabin and gathered possible evidence, including video film, before the ship arrived in Noumea, Ms Olsen said. A "rape kit" - to collect forensic evidence of a sexual assault - was used, and the results were given to the police.
Local news reports said a crew member found the woman in her cabin in shock and showing signs of having been hit.
The alleged rapist claimed the woman consented to sex.
Australian, New Zealand and New Caledonia police have refused to comment on the alleged rape, except to confirm they are investigating.
But a Pacific Star passenger, Stuart Adams, told TV3 that crew initially denied the rape had occurred.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a convicted Australian paedophile on board P&O's Pacific Dawn was taken into custody in Vanuatu on December 30 and expelled from the country.
His expulsion to Brisbane came after the Australian Federal Police alerted Vanuatu to his crimes.
A spokeswoman said the AFP always told other countries if someone on Australia's sex offenders' register was heading their way.
The 43-year-old, understood to have been convicted in 2004 for sex crimes and sentenced to 18 months in jail, was the fourth Australian paedophile to be expelled in similar circumstances in the past three months.
The incidents are the latest to dog the cruise company.
In 2002, Mrs Brimble, a mother of three, was found lying naked and dead on P&O's Pacific Sky, apparently after taking a lethal mix of alcohol and the drug fantasy.
An inquest into her death was terminated last July when the New South Wales coroner referred the matter to the state's Director of Public Prosecutions for possible charges against two fellow passengers.
Mrs Brimble's former husband Mark, vice-president of the International Cruise Victims advocacy group, said P&O had improved its procedures for dealing with possible crimes since her death but there was still work to be done.
"Are we satisfied that they have done everything they could? No," Mr Brimble said.
- NZPA
