'I'm going to make this nice and slow': Young dance festival goer humiliated as she is strip-searched twice - after being wrongly singled out by a sniffer dog
- Patron said she rarely drank but was humiliated by a police officer during search
- 'If you don't tell me where the drugs are, I'm going to make this nice and slow'
- The woman was giving evidence during the inquest into death of six people
A young festival goer has revealed her humiliation at the hands of security staff as she was strip searched twice.
The patron, who cannot be identified, gave evidence on Thursday during the inquest into the deaths of six young people at New South Wales music festivals between December 2017 and January 2019.
She said she rarely drank and never took illicit drugs so was surprised when a sniffer dog picked her out as she entered Knockout Circuz in 2017.
The woman teared up as she told the inquest she was ushered into a room, where a female police officer was waiting.
Despite saying she had no drugs on her, the woman said the officer said: 'The dogs are never wrong so just tell me where the drugs are' (stock)
'I had to take my top off and my bra,' the woman told the inquest on Thursday (stock)
Despite saying she had no drugs on her, the woman said the officer said: 'The dogs are never wrong so just tell me where the drugs are.'
After the officer asked again what she was hiding and why she was nervous, the woman says she had never been in a situation like a strip search.
'I had to take my top off and my bra,' the woman told the inquest on Thursday.
'I covered my boobs and she told me to put my hands up and she told me to tell her where the drugs were.
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'I told her I didn't have any.
'She said 'If you don't tell me where the drugs are, I'm going to make this nice and slow'.'
The patron was told to remove all her shorts and underwear, squat and repeatedly cough.
A search of the woman's bag uncovered her boyfriend's wallet, which the police officer took outside the room and handed to another person.
The festival patron said she was strip-searched at another festival where, again, no drugs were found (stock)
'She opened the door while I was still naked and handed the wallet to someone else and made me stand there for a bit.'
The festival patron said she was strip-searched at another festival where, again, no drugs were found.
'You're humiliated. The way I was spoken to (when strip-searched) was like I'd done something wrong,' she said.
She said she liked the production and music of hard-style music events but no longer attended Australian music festivals, as the amount of police and security made her feel anxious and 'like a criminal sometimes'.
According to NSW parliament documents, drugs were only found in 36 per cent of the 1124 strip searches prompted by sniffer dogs in 2017.
The inquest comes after six young people died after taking drugs at NSW music festivals.
Alex Ross-King, 19, died of an overdose at FOMO music festival in Western Sydney on Sunday
Callum Brosnan was found in a 'distressed state' at the Knockout Games of Destiny Dance Party earlier in December
Alex Ross-King, 19, attended FOMO music festival in January alongside 11,000 glittered-up revellers, on January 12.
The woman was rushed to Westmead Hospital, where she later died.
Her sudden death brought the number of fatal overdoses to six - five in NSW and one in Victoria - in four months.
Just weeks before, on Saturday, December 29 university student Callum Edwards, 20, fell critically ill at the Beyond The Valley music festival in Lardneer, about 100km east of Melbourne in Victoria.
He was flown to hospital where he died three days later from a suspected drug overdose.
His family later refuted this as reports emerged Mr Edwards died with tiger snake venom in his blood.
Mr Edwards' death followed two other revellers at the same festival being rushed to hospital suffering from suspected drug overdoses.
On Saturday, December 29 university student Callum Edwards, 20, fell critically ill at the Beyond The Valley music festival in Lardner
Josh Tam, 22, died after taking an unknown substance at Lost Paradise festival in Gosford, New South Wales
Joseph Phan (left), 23, and Diana Nguyen (right), 21, died at Defqon. 1. music festival on September 15 2018
A man in his 20s was rushed by air ambulance to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition but was later upgraded to stable and discharged.
Another man, also in his 20s, was taken to Dandenong Hospital in a critical condition.
The same weekend Josh Tam, 22, died after taking an unknown substance at Lost Paradise festival in Gosford, New South Wales.
Mr Tam, from Toowong in Brisbane, was rushed to Gosford hospital on Dec. 29 and died soon after arriving.
Earlier in December, 19-year-old Callum Brosnan, from Baulkham Hills, was found in a 'distressed state' at the Knockout Games of Destiny Dance Party at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush, Sydney.
He was admitted to Concord Hospital with a suspected drug overdose on Dec. 9 and died little more than three hours later.
The deaths of revellers Joseph Phan, 23, and Diana Nguyen, 21, at Defqon. 1. music festival on September 15 shocked the country and threw the future of the popular Sydney festival into doubt.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian previously rejected pill testing but in January backtracked on her comments saying she would consider it if the government showed evidence it could save lives.
