A woman who was subjected to an unlawful strip search at a 2018 music festival has been awarded at least $93,000 in damages, in a judgement that could see thousands of others also receive compensation.
WARNING: This article contains graphic content.
Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia handed down her judgement on Tuesday, finding Raya Meredith, who was 27 at the time, had been subjected to “humiliating” treatment at the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival in Byron Bay.
The Sydney woman launched the legal case after being searched at the event where an officer asked her to remove a tampon while naked.
Ms Meredith then became the lead plaintiff in a class action involving 3,000 people who were searched by NSW Police at music festivals between 2016 and 2022.
The legal team representing Ms Meredith previously described her experience of being strip searched as “akin to things that would happen during a sexual assault”.
Justice Yehia said it was confounding that NSW Police had still not offered an apology to Ms Meredith.
She ordered the state pay $93,000 in compensation and aggravated damages for assault, battery and false imprisonment and for the way police had conducted the case.
The judge reserved a decision on how much the state should also have to pay in additional exemplary damages because senior police failed to ensure officers were adequately trained to conduct strip searches, saying it would be better assessed after all the class action members had their claims determined.
If the class action is successful, the NSW government argued it could be liable to pay $150 million in damages, the court heard.
Speaking outside court, lawyers behind the class action said no young person should be subjected to such “egregious” and “humiliating” behaviour.
Senior associate William Zerno said the outcome would have significant and far-reaching implications for police searches conducted on “mere suspicion” and through drug detection dogs.
“We believe this could render thousands of strip searchers unlawful,” he said.
Supervising solicitor Samantha Lee said Justice Yehia’s decision should act as a deterrent to the state and to the police.
“What [the] message from this case is ‘police get your hands off young people and children’s bodies’,” she said.
The class action relating to thousands of more strip searches at music festivals will return to court at a later date.
Source: NSW government loses music festival strip search case as woman awarded $93,000 in damages – ABC News