A landmark class action lawsuit alleging New South Wales police unlawfully strip-searched people at music festivals has been filed in the supreme court.
In a statement of claim filed on Friday, lawyers for the group allege police carried out a series of “unlawful acts” such as assault and battery during searches at music festivals including Splendour in the Grass over a six-year period.
The long-mooted action – first revealed by the Guardian in May 2020 – was filed against the state of NSW, and follows a series of controversies surrounding the use of strip-search powers by police in the state.
The claim centres on lead plaintiff, Raya Meredith, who alleges she was made to lift her breasts and show a police officer her genitals during a strip-search at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass festival when she was 27.
In a statement released after the case was filed, Meredith described the search – which did not find any illegal drugs – as “degrading, scary and confusing”.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs will allege that on 20 July 2018 she was stopped by a police officer with a drug detection dog. The officer allegedly told her the dog had detected “something” on her.
She was ordered to surrender her handbag and taken to a makeshift search area where lawyers allege she was given “inadequate privacy” with police “regularly entering and exiting”.
Meredith claimed she told officers that she was not carrying drugs, but was ordered to “remove her shoes and clothing”.
She alleged she was then “ordered to lift her breasts and bend over, and to show the officer her genitals to prove that the only item inserted in her body was a tampon”.
“She says that while she was naked from the waist down, a male officer returned with her handbag to the area where she was being searched,” the statement claimed.
The officer said that nothing had been found in the handbag, and after being forced to give police her details she was allowed to leave.
Meredith said the search, which she alleged took about 30 minutes, had left a lasting impact.
“Since then, every time I approach security to enter a festival or gig, I get scared and wonder if it’s going to happen to me all over again,” she said in a statement.
In the statement filed on Friday, lawyers for the plaintiffs alleged police officers carried out a series of unlawful acts including assault, battery and false imprisonment against festival-goers during searches.
The plaintiffs alleged some people – including children – were told to lift or move their genitals, strip naked, and squat and cough during searches.
“Women were ordered to remove sanitary products so they too could be inspected,” the lawyers said in the statement.
“Group members are seeking damages, aggravated damages and exemplary damages from the state. This could be in the order of tens of thousands of dollars for those subjected to particularly invasive or distressing searches.”
The lawsuit, which is being run by Slater & Gordon and the Redfern Legal Centre, comes after a series of revelations about the use of strip-search powers by police in the state. In 2019 the Guardian revealed police had strip-searched more than 100 girls over the previous three years, including two 12-year-olds.
A series of watchdog investigations, coroner’s reports and internal police documents have raised concerns about the legality of strip-searches.
A 2020 inquiry by the law enforcement conduct commission heard evidence a 16-year-old girl was fearful and in tears after she was forced to strip naked and squat in front of a police officer who then “looked underneath” her at the Splendour in the Grass festival in 2018.
But the NSW government has resisted efforts to change the law to tighten the use of the power, something the class action is hoping to address.
Samantha Lee, a senior police accountability solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, said the case would aim to show that “invasive and unlawful police searches” at festivals “have become routine, resulting in very few charges, but leaving thousands of young people and minors humiliated and severely traumatised”.
“With this class action, Redfern Legal Centre and Slater & Gordon are seeking compensation and redress for the significant numbers of people believed to have been unlawfully searched,” she said.
“We also look to the courts to make findings that will ensure this traumatising police practice becomes the exception not the rule.
“Time has shown that police policy changes and internal education programs will not prevent the overuse of this blunt and harmful policing tool. Ultimately, we need legislative change to ensure safer policing and real change. Until that time, we are looking to the courts to clarify in what circumstances strip-searches are lawful.”
NSW Police has been contacted for comment.
