In response to the FPN post last week regarding the Stamford Marriott rape, where the hotel claimed that the woman who was raped in their garage, “failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities,” several readers wrote to Marriott to express their horror at the hotel chain’s victim-blaming handling of what happened, and in response got the following letter from Marriott,
Dear Valued Guest,
Thank you for contacting Marriott.
We wish to convey our respect and sympathy for Ms. Doe and her family, who were the victims of a horrendous crime in 2006.
Marriott is profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime. And unfortunately this situation has created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect and concern for Ms. Doe or other victims of violent crime.
However, out of respect for the privacy of the victim and the expectations of the Court in the pending litigation, we are not at liberty to comment on the claims or defenses in this case.
Regards,
Marriott Customer Care
According to the Stamford Advocate, after the woman sued the hotel, they,
“subpoenaed several people involved with the family, including a Pilates instructor, friends, tennis partners and the children’s baby sitter. The woman’s attorneys argue the individuals subpoenaed do not know anything about the attack, that the subpoenas inadvertently identified her to those people and that it was merely an effort by the hotel’s attorneys to intimidate her.”
Which begs the question of how they could claim now to be respecting the privacy of the victim. More appallingly, it is disingenuous to refer to it as a “horrendous” and “violent” crime, but never once call it out for what it is–rape.
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