Sexual Misconduct from an Instructor

[Rhone Man]

I can assure you that it is NOT common practice in Malta

I have never been to Malta, but elsewhere in the Med that sort of conduct has long ceased to surprise me. Still catches my wife out every so often though.

 

[Guba]

Jim, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest the OP locate someone well versed in martial arts who might teach a few techniques that might dissuade the perpetrator from trying similar moves in the future. Perhaps the "groin sweep", low flat backfist, knee thrust, or power snapkick (or any combination thereof) would do the trick.

As for alerting the police and agencies...I'm all for it. True, in foreign lands the results might need to be weighed against possible complications, but anything that could be done to rid the diving world of threats like this would be a very good thing for diving in general.

 

[Louie]

Divergirl09,

I would further suggest that you seek some advice/guidance from someone who is well-established and respected in the local diving business community that YOU CAN TRUST (whether farang or Thai). These things happen and there's bound to be professionals and businesspeople who have dealt with problems in the past. You're dealing with a place where actions are taken outside of official channels or in an "informal" manner.

Whatever you do, don't go waving banners or making anything public. You have to live and work where you are and you don't want to risk your well-being or harm your cause.

 

[Diver0001]

I work in a dive center which recently hired an instructor from overseas, everything on paper seemed to make him a suitable candidate for the job.
On the first day I was out diving with him, he grabbed me sexually in front of the customers. I voiced this to the manager who addressed this with him.

The following day someone diving with him mentioned that he had seen him touch a student near the groin which he claimed was accidental, I found out later that he had also groped another female colleague.
He claims this is common practice in Malta where he worked.
After addressing this with the manager he was fired but is sending insolent text messages to him.

He is a certified instructor with 6 different agencies and I am concerned that his behaviour will put students and staff at risk at the next place he will be working in. As he is still on the island and sending abusive messages could anyone advise what steps we should take to prevent this from happening in the future?
Could anyone give me some suggestions on what steps to follow?

I appreciate any advice from fellow divers and professionals

Well.... from what I've heard on the news, the worst you could do to him in Thailand is report him to the authorities and tell them that he's a homosexual. They'll...... handle him.

Although I don't generally recommend this, I would also suggest informing his agencies. Most agencies won't sanction instructors for sexual misconduct but it might help if a pattern can be established.

Futhermore, I would "name and shame" them on this forum on the condition that you inform him that you have done this so he can defend himself if necessary. Word of mouth advertising is a powerful tool and you may be able to prevent him from getting in a position to sexually abuse other colleagues/clients in the future. If there is one thing sexual offenders hate more than anything else, it's publicity. If you're sure of your position then play the man. He deserves it and you have earned the right.

R..

 

[waynne fowler]

HOLY COW! Good advice from all here. Report the idiot asap

HOLY COW!

 

[Tom Winters]

This guy's name wasn't Gary Glitter, was it?

 

[Hoomi]

Well, even if it IS common practice where he is from, it's NOT acceptable in your dive center.

After all, think about how women have been "commonly treated" in may parts of the world. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, a woman's life was pretty much forfeit if she was caught outside without a male family member as chaperone. We sure wouldn't tolerate such abuse of a woman throughout most of the civilized world.

Personally, I think some of the men of the dive center should have taken him aside and let him know that, while it might have been common practice to sexually harass women back where he came from, it's common practice to beat the living snot out of perverts where they live, and that if they heard of him putting his hands on any other instructor or dive center customer, they would see just how much living snot he had in him.

 

[Divergirl09]

Thanks to all of you for your good advice, yesterday the messages went from insolent to threatening and he sent a Northern Irish colleague of ours a text message saying that "I hope that I killed one of your family up North" last night around midnight.
I think this is intolerable behaviour but my concern is that he is still in the same geographical location as us and his messages have become threatening making me concerned about his mental state.
We have spoken to the police but as you know in Thailand they are not very helpful.
I guess we'll have to wait and see this out.

 

[Bronson]

Well....i have thought about this for a day before responding...and long behold someone said what i was thinking before i could type it out....do not put yourself in a position that will cause you more trouble..get out of there and move on. Let others step up. Sounds like a coward's answer..yes...but the law in this part of the world is not like the USA or UK...you could be focused on my the police in a unfriendly way...and even legally brought before judges that will look to you as causing reputational harm and held over for court appearances and sued persoanlly for unwarrented reputational harm, etc. How would you know that the police or judge are not related to the dive shop or instructor??? Not fair to you or the next person but think about it.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Report him to the agencies, keep records of all contacts made, ask the other victims to come forward as well, notify the authorities of his threats but as has already been said, do not publically smear him if it can be avoided. No matter where you, this is unacceptable behaviour IMO....I would have taken the "JIm Lap" approach long ago. This guy sounds like he deserves it.

Hopefully this all works out well for all involved.