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A court has condemned the humiliating and unlawful strip search of a young festival-goer, awarding her $93,000 and flagging further damages.
Officers did not have reasonable grounds to conduct the search at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass festival at Byron Bay, the NSW Supreme Court found on Tuesday.
Instead, the NSW Police officers formed the view that a strip search was justified merely because a drug detection dog sniffed towards the woman.
“That conclusion was entirely wrong,” Justice Dina Yehia said in her class action judgment against the State of NSW.
‘She recalled feeling disgusted’
In a make-shift cubicle that did not offer privacy, the woman was made to remove all items of her clothing, including her underwear and tampon.
“She recalled feeling disgusted that another woman was putting her through this. She felt like vomiting,” Yehia said.
While the woman was naked from the waist down, a male police officer walked into the cubicle without warning to return her bag.
She was detained for about 30 minutes and let go after officers failed to detect drugs or any other prohibited items.
The entire experience was degrading, humiliating and caused fear to the woman who felt compelled to obey police, the judge said.
Police breached safeguards, judge says
Yehia awarded a total of $43,000 in general damages to the woman for assault, battery and false imprisonment.
Police breached safeguards meant to protect the privacy and bodily autonomy of individuals being strip-searched, the judge found.
She was also awarded $30,000 in aggravated damages for the serious departures from state law and NSW Police Force policies.
A further $20,000 was awarded after the NSW state government took two years to backflip on the legality of the strip search after initially denying that officers broke the law.
The state government’s admission in court did not extend to the more than 3000 people who have registered for the class action.
Yehia found the woman should be awarded exemplary damages over a systemic failure by NSW Police to properly train its officers in how to conduct strip searches.
However, this exact amount will be determined after the court considers compensation for the remaining 3000 individuals who have registered for the class action.
