Couple’s Celebrity Eclipse cruise-ship clash leads to assault charge after fight over spending spirals into violent showdown

EXCLUSIVE

A couple’s dispute over onboard expenses during an international cruise escalated into a bloody brawl in their cabin, where they were told they were having an affair and threatened with suicide.

Tony Lilo is facing trial after admitting he punched his wife in the head aboard the Celebrity Eclipse.

Both were locked in separate cabins until the ship returned to Sydney from New Zealand, where Lilo, from Guildford in Sydney’s west, was arrested.

Lilo’s wife, who lives in Seattle in the US northwest, was unable to attend her husband’s court appearance in Sydney this week, but she is supporting him despite their violent confrontation.

The couple boarded the Celebrity Eclipse in Sydney on March 15 last year for a two-week cruise of the Tasman Sea, sharing a balcony cabin.

He was 39, she was 48, and they had been married for about two years when they started the journey.

After eight nights at sea, the ship was 286 nautical miles (530 km) from the coast of New Zealand when Lilo and his wife got into an argument in their cabin.

According to a statement of facts filed at Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday, the dispute began over “the spending of money on board the vessel”.

“The ship specifically organized an activity for guests where charms and other jewelry could be collected and purchased,” the statement said.

‘The [wife] had participated in the activity and collected a bag full of amulets. [Lilo] And [his wife] had different views on how the money should be spent on these things, and how the things should be divided among themselves, their family and friends.’

A heated verbal argument ensued during which the couple began pushing each other and Lilo’s wife told her husband she would punch him if he didn’t move aside.

When Lilo asked his wife to hit him, she did.

Lilo responded by hitting his wife on the left side of her face, causing her to “feel a sharp pain and become disoriented.”

Lilo’s wife kicked him in the chest from the edge of the bed, causing him to fall backwards onto a television cabinet.

The couple began pushing each other again and when Lilo’s wife said she wanted to leave, he pushed her to the ground and straddled her legs.

Lilo pushed on his wife’s neck, causing her to have difficulty breathing and a birthmark to bleed. She also received a scratch on her right cheek.

She tried to get him off her by scratching his face and sticking her fingers into his cheek, causing him to bleed.

During the argument, Lilo called his wife a “b***h,” a “c***,” and a “selfish c***.” She bit his finger.

When it was over, Lilo said he was going to throw himself and his belongings off the ship and told his wife that if she called security, it would be “the last thing she would ever do.”

Then the arguing stopped and the couple spent the night in their cabin, with ‘minimal contact with each other’.

The next morning, Lilo’s wife went to breakfast with friends she had met on the ship, according to the affidavit filed in court.

When she returned to the cabin, another argument broke out, “because he thought she was cheating on him with someone else on the cruise.”

Lilo then told his wife that neither of them would leave the cabin “until she told him who she was going swimming with.”

A crew member from the Celebrity Eclipse heard Lilo’s wife calling for help and security officers came to their cabin.

A doctor determined that both parties had sustained injuries from the fight. They were locked in separate rooms for the remainder of the cruise.

When the ship docked at Circular Quay in Sydney on March 26, Australian Federal Police arrested Lilo.

Celebrity Eclipse is a 17-deck ship with a length of 317 meters and a capacity of 2,850 passengers and 1,200 crew members. It is owned by the Royal Caribbean Group and registered in the Bahamas.

When asked about the attack on his wife, Lilo said he “basically punched her in the face” to defend himself and hit the left side of her jaw with his clenched fist.

Lilo further told police that he had tried to “overpower” his wife so that she could not hurt me by holding her down.

Lilo pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and requested on Tuesday that the case be heard under mental health provisions rather than criminal law.

Lilo’s wife gave a victim impact statement in which she called him her “beloved husband” and said she was “not entirely sure what happened in their cabin.”

“I didn’t see him hit me and I didn’t feel any pain afterwards,” she wrote.

She had been boxing, wrestling and sword fighting for many years, but had suffered much more serious injuries from those contact sports.

Lilo’s wife said she and her husband both struggled with serious mental health issues and that he had never hit or threatened her in the past.

“Tony is the best husband I could ever ask for,” she wrote. “He is truly a beacon of light in the darkness and my life is better in every way with him in it.”

As a result of a temporary violence order issued after the attack, Lilo was unable to see his wife for nearly 17 months.

Lilo’s lawyer, Greg James KC, said his client had undergone therapy before and after the events on the ship and would continue to seek help through Relationships Australia.

Mr James said the couple wanted to stay together and that an assault conviction would likely mean Lilo would not be able to travel to the US to be with his wife.

Judge Susan Horan denied the request to hear the case under mental health provisions rather than criminal law, despite accepting Lilo’s diagnosis of persistent depressive disorder.

Ms Horan adjourned the case until later this month so Lilo could provide evidence that a conviction would prevent him from obtaining a US visa.