As if being raped wasn’t traumatising enough, Georgina Mortimer says the way she was treated after reporting it to the tour group she was holidaying with at the time is “disgusting”.
The British doctor booked a holiday to St Lucia through Girls for Sail, a group that offers female-only holidays specialising in teaching women how to sail.
The 45-year-old mother-of-two says she booked the holiday through the site believing she would feel safe, but says the trip quickly turned into a “nightmare”.
“I was not given a key for my bedroom door but two instructors were also staying there and I understood the front door would be locked each night,” Mortimer told The Sun. “I woke to find a monster pinning me down in my bed attacking me, I thought I was going to be murdered.”
“The hand on my throat pressed down so hard I thought I was going to pass out. I could hardly breathe let alone scream. I thought of my children and was determined not to die. I lay as quiet as possible because I felt any struggling on my part could anger him enough to kill me.”
“I am devastated by what happened and I am going to do what I can to stop any other woman going through this. I am shocked by a company, which claims to empower women by helping them learn to sail without men, has treated a rape victim so badly.”
“I was traumatised, I couldn’t cope being there. Nobody had bothered to contact the British Consulate for me so I did that myself and they organised an emergency flight home for me.”
Mortimer says the company paid for a night in another hotel, and when she returned to the UK and complained again, they offered her a manicure and a massage, which they described as “a little ‘treat’ for me and hoped I found it ‘enjoyable'”.
“My life has been turned upside down. I have horrendous flashbacks and feel traumatised. To be offered a massage and manicure is disgusting.”
“I was also offered a complimentary days sailing. It all belittled the nightmare I’d gone through.”
Mortimer is now taking action against the holiday company and villa owner for negligence.
“This is a professional woman who was attacked in her own bed whilst away on holiday. Tour operators, hotel owners and others in the holiday business have a duty of care to protect their customers,” says her lawyer, Vidisha Joshi.
However Girls for Sail denies the allegations, with owner of Summer Breeze villa and Girls for Sail, Annie O Sullivan, telling The Sun: “We have been a Trip Advisor recommended 4.5 star villa since 2012 and strenuously deny the claims.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Yachting Association added: “The incident did not take place during an RYA accredited training course and the RYA had no involvement in the ownership or provision of the holiday accommodation in which the incident took place.”
