Dominican Republic Resort Where Wilmington Woman Was Beaten is Temporarily Closing
The Dominican Republic resort, Magestic Elegance Punta Cana, where a Delaware woman says she was beaten unconscious is now temporarily closing due to low occupancy.
Majestic Resorts says it has lost thousands of visitors to the island since the stories started popping up of tourists dying, or getting sick or hurt.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley, the 51-year-old woman from Wilmington, Delaware, was one of the first to share her story, as she did to Facebook back in May of 2019. Within her post, she states she was beaten and strangled by a man in a uniform of the all-inclusive resort, until becoming fully unconscious while on vacation at the Magestic Punta Cana Resort in January.
Lawrence-Daley was hospitalized and recovered back from her physical injuries to an extent. She still faces prblems with physical alignment, and “permanent disfigurement.”
A few weeks after announcing her attack on Facebook, the Wilmington resident filed a lawsuit for $3 million against the resort to compensate for “permanent, life changing injuries” according to her lawyers.
Watch Tammy tell her story in the video by CBS below…
The Punta Cana resort did not respond immediately to the request, and has now announced its temporary close, starting August 15th, until November 5th 2019.
The resort stated a loss of over 60% of occupancy expected for the months of August, September, and October.
The reason for this loss ties back to negative portrayals of the Dominican Republic and Punta Cana area by the media, as well as thousands of cancellations from already booked guests.
Magestic Resort stated to the public, “We have taken this issue as an opportunity to rethink and improve for the future.” Rightfully so, the resort does not want their guests to have a worrisome experience while visiting.
An earlier statement by the resort suggested doubt on the Wilmington victim’s telling of the events, saying it was waiting for police to explore contradictions in the “strange and unusual case.”
Although Tammy Lawrence-Daley’s case is the only incident Magestic Resorts has seen, 10 people have died this year while visiting the Dominican Republic. As this seems abnormal, officials are saying the deaths in the Dominican Republic are actually lower than years in the past.
