Police officers illegally strip-searched a woman at a Byron Bay music festival, the New South Wales supreme court has heard, subjecting her to a “degrading and humiliating” inspection that included being told to remove her tampon while undressed in front of a police officer.
NSW police admitted in court documents that its July 2018 strip search of Raya Meredith – which discovered nothing illegal – was unlawful and unjustified, and ignored laws protecting her rights.
“It was a horrible thing to go through,” Meredith said, in emotional testimony before the court on Monday.
“It was humiliating, having to expose myself to a complete stranger,” she said.
Meredith accused the police force of “gaslighting” her by denying her version of events for years.
Meredith is the lead plaintiff of more than 3,000 group members subjected to potentially unlawful strip searches at music festivals by NSW police officers between 2016 and 2022. They are part of a class action, brought by Slater and Gordon Lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre, against the state of NSW over allegedly unlawful strip-searches conducted by police, including of children.
The affected cohort could be more than twice as large.
Acting for the plaintiffs, Kylie Nomchong SC told the court Meredith was at Splendour in the Grass when a drug dog sniffed in her direction but then walked on. Meredith was stopped by police and had her bag taken away and searched out of her sight.
The court heard a female police officer told Meredith to remove her top in a makeshift tarpaulin cubicle, and to bend over and move her breasts so she could be examined.
Meredith was then told to remove her shorts and underwear, then instructed to turn around and bend over. The police officer inspected her vagina and anal area.
The court heard the officer asked her if she had “inserted anything”. Meredith said she had a tampon inserted, and she was instructed by the police officer to “pull it out and show it to her”. Meredith pulled gently at the tampon string, but did not remove it.
During the search, while Meredith was unclothed, a male police officer walked into the cubicle unannounced.
The search found no drugs, and nothing else illegal.
Documents before the court show that even after nothing was found, Meredith felt threatened by police, and asked if she could leave.
“Not yet,” an officer told her. “We have to take your details in case you get pulled aside for another search, which wouldn’t look good for you if that happened.”
Nomchong told the court the strip-search was “highly invasive and humiliating”, and that Meredith’s treatment by police was “akin to a sexual assault”.
“She was utterly shocked and degraded.”
Nomchong said Meredith’s circumstance, as lead plaintiff, was not unique, but demonstrative of systemic failures.
“This is an extraordinary case, but not an isolated one, it is at the serious end, but not the most serious.”
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What are NSW police allowed to do?
Much of the case will focus on the NSW legislation that controls police actions in conducting strip-searches.
The Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 insists they can only be performed when “the seriousness and urgency of the circumstances make the strip search necessary”.
The legislation also mandates that people cannot be interrogated while being strip-searched, and that searches “must not involve a search of a person’s body cavities or an examination of the body by touch”.
NSW police conceded, in documents before the court, that there was no lawful justification for the search of Meredith.
The case will also examine what training police officers received.
Nomchong told the court NSW police leadership had “wholly failed” to properly train its officers to conduct strip-searches, and that the directions given to officers on their responsibilities were “woefully inadequate”.
The court heard class action members are seeking exemplary damages, in the order of tens of thousands of dollars for some plaintiffs. Julian Sexton SC, acting for the state of NSW, told the court that if those were awarded, total damages could run to $150m.
Meredith finished her evidence in court Monday afternoon. She said she was “beyond infuriated” that policedenied her version of events – which they later admitted – in the early stages of this case. The police denials left her feeling “violated, yet again”, she said, and were “just a bunch of gaslighting and mind games”.
“It was difficult to have police officers, who were there, who saw it, say I was lying.
“I don’t like being called a liar … having my integrity called into question.”
The case was set down for 20 days of hearings before Justice Dina Yehia. The court heard the state of NSW had said it would call 22 witnesses, mostly police officers, to contest Meredith’s version of events. However, in the days before hearings began, the state withdrew those witnesses.
Meredith is now the only witness expected to appear. The case returns to court next week.
