EXCLUSIVE
A fight between a couple over onboard expenses during an international cruise ended in a bloody fight inside the cabin, with accusations of an affair and a suicide threat.
Tony Lilo appears in court after admitting to hitting his wife in the head aboard the Celebrity Eclipse.
The two were confined to separate cabins until the ship returned to Sydney from New Zealand, when Lilo, from Guildford in Sydney’s west, was arrested.
Lilo’s wife, who lives in Seattle in the north-west of the United States, was unable to be with her husband when he appeared in court in her home city of Sydney this week, but 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 around the Tasman Sea and shared a balcony stateroom.
He was 39, she was 48, and they had been married for about two years when they embarked on the trip.
After eight nights at sea, the ship was 286 nautical miles (530 kilometers) off the coast of New Zealand when Lilo and his wife began arguing in their cabin.
A man who punched his wife in the head during an international cruise had been arguing with her about how much money she had spent on gifts for her family and friends during the holiday. Tony Lilo, pictured above, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm
According to a statement of facts filed at Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, the disagreement began over “the spending of money on the boat”.
“Specifically, the ship had an activity for guests that involved collecting and purchasing charms and other jewelry,” the statement said.
‘(The wife) participated in the activity and had collected a bag of amulets. (Lilo) and (his wife) had different views on how the money should be spent on these items and how the items should be distributed among themselves, their family and friends.’
A heated verbal dispute reached a point where the couple pushed each other and Lilo’s wife told her husband that if he didn’t get out of her way, she would slap him.
When Lilo invited his wife to slap him, she did.
Lilo responded by hitting his wife on the left side of her face, causing her “sharp pain and disorientation.”
From the edge of the bed, Lilo’s wife kicked him in the chest and he fell backwards onto a television stand.
The couple pushed each other again and when Lilo’s wife said she wanted to leave, he pushed her to the ground and straddled her legs.
The morning after Tony Lilo assaulted his wife in their cabin on the Celebrity Eclipse during their two-week voyage, he accused her of having an affair with another passenger.
Lilo put pressure on his wife’s neck, making it difficult for her to breathe and causing a mole to bleed, as well as causing a scratch on her right cheek.
She tried to get him off by scratching his face and sticking her fingers in his cheek, causing him to bleed.
During the fight, Lilo called his wife a “slut,” 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 boat and told his wife that if she called security it would be “the last thing I would do.”
At that point the argument stopped and the couple spent the night in their cabin, having “minimal contact with each other.”
The next morning, Lilo’s wife went to have breakfast with friends she had met on the boat, according to the statement filed in court.
When he returned to the cabin another fight broke out, “as he believed 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 Celebrity Eclipse crew member heard Lilo’s wife screaming for help and security officers rushed to her cabin.
Celebrity Express (above) is a 17-deck, 317-metre-long ship with a capacity of 2,850 passengers and 1,200 crew, owned by the Royal Caribbean Group and registered in the Bahamas.
A doctor later observed injuries to both parties caused by the fight, and they were confined to 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, 317-meter-long ship with a capacity to carry 2,850 passengers and 1,200 crew members, owned by the Royal Caribbean Group and registered in the Bahamas.
When asked about assaulting his wife, Lilo said he had “basically punched her in the face” in self-defense and that his closed fist struck the left side of her jaw.
Lilo also told police he had tried to “subdue” his wife “so she couldn’t hurt me” by holding her down.
After pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, Lilo on Tuesday requested that the matter be dealt with under mental health provisions rather than criminal law.
Lilo’s wife provided a victim impact statement in which she referred to him as her “beloved husband” and said she was “not entirely sure what happened” at their cabin.
“I didn’t see him hit me and I didn’t feel any pain afterward,” he wrote.
Having participated in boxing, wrestling and fencing for many years, he had suffered far worse injuries in those contact sports.
The couple boarded Celebrity Eclipse in Sydney on March 15 last year for a cruise on the Tasman Sea and shared a balcony cabin. A similar cabin can be seen in the photo
Lilo’s wife said she and her husband suffered from significant mental health issues and that he had never hit or threatened her in the past.
“Tony is the best husband I could ever wish for,” she wrote. “He is a true beacon of light in the darkness and my life is better in every way with him in it.”
As a result of a provisional arrest warrant issued after the assault, Lilo had not been able to see his wife for almost 17 months.
Lilo’s lawyer, Greg James KC, said his client had received counselling before and after the events on the boat and would continue to seek help through Relationships Australia.
Mr James said the couple wanted to stay together and an assault conviction would likely prevent Lilo from travelling to the United States to be with his wife.
Judge Susan Horan rejected a request to try 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 present evidence that a conviction would prevent her from obtaining a US visa.