The Carnival Spirit prepares to dock in Sydney, where Mr Sun is a resident. Harbour Photo / Getty
The Carnival Spirit prepares to dock in Sydney, where Mr Sun is a resident. Harbour Photo / Getty
A Sydney dad was enjoying a cruise with his family when he got a knock at the door from another passenger, reports Lauren McMah for news.com.au.
John Sun says the passenger quickly pushed him against the wall and accused him of exposing himself to his daughter.
He described to A Current Affair how he was wrongly accused of exposing himself on the Carnival cruise and how he was urged to confess to a crime he didn't commit.
Mr Sun is taking legal action against Carnival Australia after the alleged incident on an eight-day cruise between Sydney and New Caledonia in December 2016.
During the journey, Mr Sun said he was physically assaulted by a male passenger and detained and interrogated by the ship's security after he was wrongly accused of exposing and touching himself in front of children.
In an interview with A Current Affair, Mr Sun revealed details of the idyllic holiday that quickly turned to hell.
"It was meant to be a holiday that we were all looking forward to," he told the program.
When another passenger came to his door and accused him of exposing himself Mr Sun told ACA: "I didn't know how to react to that, thinking it was some kind of joke, but at the same time it didn't seem like a joke."
He called security but was instead detained himself.
He said after being accused of the sexual assault, which he didn't commit, Mr Sun was told: "We just need you to confess what you've done, we've got you on camera."
He said he was "pushed against the wall" during the incident.
Mr Sun said he was shown CCTV footage of the man who allegedly exposed himself, but pointed out it was not him because he did not have tattoos.
But Mr Sun said security told him the mistake was understandable because the man in the CCTV was also Asian.
The incident disrupted what should have been a special trip for Mr Sun and family. Photo / Channel 9
"And then I repeated it back to him just to clarify it and he acknowledged it as well," Mr Sun told ACA.
Mr Sun was travelling with his wife Sherry and their young daughter on the Carnival Australia cruise.
He is suing Carnival PLC for breach of contract, misleading or deceptive conduct, defamation, unjustified or unlawful detention and negligence and is seeking more than $100,000 in damages.
According to a statement of claim lodged with the NSW District Court, the ship's security staff were told a man had exposed and then touched himself in front of young female passengers.
The claim said the father of one of the girls tracked down Mr Sun in his cabin and physically assaulted him.
But when Mr Sun called security for help, security staff marched Mr Sun to a room where they interrogated him for 90 minutes.
He felt he "was not at liberty to refuse the direction to accompany them", the claim said.
After the interrogation, security staff finally showed Mr Sun the footage they said they had of him — except it wasn't Mr Sun.
In court, Carnival Australia admitted Mr Sun "pointed out obvious physical differences between himself and the person depicted in the CCTV footage".
They included that the plaintiff's legs and arms were tattooed, "whereas those of the person appearing in the CCTV footage were not".
In a statement to A Current Affair, Carnival Cruise Lines said: "We apologised to Mr Sun for the disruption to his holiday and are disappointed that the father of one of our guests decided to take matters into his own hands.
