The young woman leading a class action over strip searches was subjected to a "degrading and humiliating" experience "akin to a sexual assault" by NSW Police at a music festival in 2018, a court has heard.
WARNING: This article contains graphic content.
Last month, the state of NSW made a dramatic backflip in the case, admitting police acted unlawfully when they searched Raya Meredith at the Splendour In The Grass music festival, ordering her to bend over while naked and remove a tampon.
Her barrister, Kylie Nomchong SC, on Monday told the hearing her client would be making an additional claim for aggravated damages due to feelings of "hurt and distress" caused by police previously denying her account for more than two years.
Kylie Nomchong SC said Raya Meredith was searched based on a drug dog sniffing in her direction. (AAP: Regi Varghese)
Ms Nomchong told the court her client was subjected to "assault, battery and false imprisonment" during the search, and the only basis for it had been a drug dog "sniffing in [Ms Meredith's] direction".
She said police did not follow the statutory safeguards that NSW parliament had put in place around strip searches.
"She was not asked for her consent, she was questioned during the search, the search was not done in private," Ms Nomchong said.
"She was asked to strip, expose all parts of her body, drop her breasts, bend over and expose her anus and vagina.
"We say these things are akin to things that would happen during a sexual assault."
Ms Nomchong said that when Ms Meredith was following commands to bend over, "a male police officer walked into the cubicle unannounced and observed the plaintiff in this position".
No drugs were found during the search and Ms Nomchong said Ms Meredith was left traumatised.
She outlined the broader ramifications of the class action, which is believed to be one of the biggest ever brought against NSW Police.
"This is an extraordinary story, but it is not an isolated one," she said.
"There were many thousands of persons stripsearched at festivals in the claim period," she said.
Indigenous and diverse communities disproportionately searched in NSW Photo shows A photo of a man with a beard. New data obtained by the ABC has found First Nations and diverse communities were disproportionately represented in New South Wales police searches between 2020 and 2023.
Ms Nomchong said the state of NSW had failed to adequately train officers on strict rules that surround strip searches, and then deployed large numbers of police to music festivals between 2016 and 2022, knowing and expecting a large number of searches would be conducted.
She said the parliament had made it clear strip searches were only supposed to be used "in the most extreme of circumstances", but that was not the way they were being executed by NSW Police.
"We say there was a pattern of conduct of NSW Police carrying out strip searches at music festivals as a matter of routine," she said.
joebleaux on May 5th, 2025 at 12:42 UTC »
Showing your butthole to security should not be a part of going to a festival. How the fuck did it get to that point where the people performing the searches think this is OK?
Ahrjun on May 5th, 2025 at 11:36 UTC »
"Parliament had made it clear strip searches were only supposed to be used "in the most extreme of circumstances", but that was not the way they were being executed by NSW Police."
I know why, it's because you have perverts in positions of power and are abusing it for their own pleasure.
She was asked to strip, expose all parts of her body, drop her breasts, bend over and expose her anus and vagina, also ordering her to bend over while naked and remove a tampon. AND, a male police officer walked into the cubicle unannounced and observed the plaintiff in this position. Putting a woman through that because a cop had a "hunch"? Right.
Those cops got off on it. Just disgusting behavior that should have consequences. This is not the kind of people you want in the police force.
satisfiedfools on May 5th, 2025 at 10:46 UTC »
Police in Sydney routinely conduct invasive strip searches at music festivals. We’re talking completely naked searches where guys are told to lift their balls, girls are told to lift their boobs, attendees are told to squat and cough, bend over etc. Most of these strip searches don’t find any drugs, and you’ve got reports of innocent people being left completely distraught after this has happened to them. NSW Police are currently facing a class action over this. So far around 3000 people have signed up. A trial for that class action began today, hence the article.
For background: In 2001, New South Wales (state in Australia, Sydney is the capital) introduced a law giving police the power to deploy drug detection dogs at certain public locations, namely at major events such as music festivals, train stations and at venues that serve alcohol, such as pubs and clubs. These dogs are notoriously unreliable, and there are reports on social media of handlers forcing their dogs to sit in front people in order to have them searched.
Music festivals are the worst. The police have drug detection dogs at every music festival in Sydney. At these events, they’ll have a fenced off compound setup with makeshift structures such as tents or ticket booths where people stopped by the dogs are taken to be searched. Some people are lucky enough to get away with a pat down, but in many cases, festival attendees have been ordered to strip completely naked and bend over, squat etc. to have their bodies examined for drugs. At any given event, they’ll strip search dozens of people like this. Total gestapo stuff and it’s still happening today.