No one in the Barkho family home would come to the door when media called. Photo / Channel 9
No one in the Barkho family home would come to the door when media called. Photo / Channel 9
THE family at the centre of the cruise ship brawl that made international headlines have told police they are the ones who need protection.
The Barkho family have returned to their Melbourne mansion and are holed up inside refusing to emerge, reports news.com.au.
Members of the family asked police for help when media visited the home yesterday. Officers arrived at the lavish Greenvale home when journalists tried to give the family right of reply.
When news.com.au visited the home yesterday no one would come to the door, neighbours said they hadn't seen them or claimed not to know them.
A Victoria Police spokesman told news.com.au they were called after the occupants of the home were upset at the arrival of media.
The scene was nothing like the last time the family were seen in public.
As the family was offloaded on to police boats on Friday morning, passengers yelled from above on deck, yelling: "Get off" and: "You're not heroes, you're deros".
One of the evicted members of the family held up a derisive finger in response.
Their removal from the ship came after passengers said a large family had "picked on Aussies" and "strangled and punched" passengers for three days before Carnival Legend called police and offloaded the relatives.
No one in the Barkho family home would come to the door when media called. Photo / Channel 9
A bloody clash at 1.30am on Friday forced Carnival to the "unprecedented" eviction of the 26-member family, after calling NSW Police and docking at Eden on the NSW South Coast.
Video footage taken by some passengers on the 10-day South Pacific cruise shows clashes on the pool deck in broad daylight in the days leading up to the final, bloody conflict. Video shows young adults fighting with ship's pursers and other staff on deck.
Women and men push and shove with the Carnival Legend officers dressed in white uniforms.
NSW Police said six men and three teenage boys were removed from the ship at Twofold Bay in Eden. A further 14 passengers, including women and children, then also voluntarily left the ship. No one has been charged following the incident.
Cruise ship passenger Jarrah Bolitho said that the family on board the Carnival Legend had been targeting "Aussies".
He and his mother Lisa had to escape to their cabin to avoid the violence.
"I was watching the fight and one guy came up to me and said: 'Do you want to go too, bro?'" Jarrah said.
"My mum had to drag me away from it all. They were trying to pick on any Aussie they could find."
Lisa Bolitho described the violence as "very violent, there were full-on attacks".
She said her son, Jarrah was targeted by the family before the pair was forced to flee and lock themselves in their cabin.
Ms Bolitho questioned management's handling of the incident.
Meanwhile, footage taken of the fight appears to show crew members kicking passengers as they tried to take control of the situation.
The former husband of Dianne Brimble, whose death aboard a P & O ship in 2002 cast the spotlight on safety in cruise liners, said the behaviour of staff was "thuggery".
"Kicking a passenger lying on the ground isn't security, it's thuggery," Mr Brimble, who is president of International Cruise Victims Australia, told The Australian.
"What compounds things is that one security official is seen to be more bothered about the incident being filmed than she is in trying to secure the safety of passengers.
"That leaves the question: are they there to protect the passengers or the image of cruising with Carnival?"
A fight breaks out on the ship. Photo / YouTube
A Carnival Australia spokesman said the company was conducting a full investigation of all aspects of the cruise, including the security response to the "unprecedented" violence.
The company addressed the actions of crew members in a statement where they promised a full review.
"Our security team responded in several instances to extremely unruly behaviour by these guests while the ship was at sea," Carnival said in a statement to Fox News.
"One particular altercation in the nightclub began when the group physically attacked other guests. The actions seen on the video by our security team are not in line with our values and policies. We are conducting a full investigation and will take appropriate corrective action as necessary."
