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Woman's 'sickening' injuries after alleged needle spiking at pub

A Newcastle woman has issued a warning for other young women following a streak of alleged drug needlings in the city’s night hub.

Sienna Davis posted a warning to Facebook after a number of friends came forward complaining they had been pricked with some type of needle in their thighs with the most recent on Friday evening while out in King Street.

“One of my friends was injected with some sort of roofie drug by a needle,” she wrote.

“She is the sixth girl to come forward to the police about this in the past couple of weeks.”

Bruises are seen on the arms of women, believed to be from needle spikings.
Sienna Davis, from Newcastle, says a number of women have been jabbed randomly by needles. Source: Facebook/ Sienna Davis

She shared photos of a number of bruises from the victims.

Ms Davis said the latest case is the second woman she knows personally to have experienced this in the past two weeks, with six victims in total. Both the women she knows were pricked on the right thigh.

Sienna Davis says she is so proud of her friends for speaking out after the alleged experience. Source: Facebook
Sienna Davis says she is so proud of her friends for speaking out after the alleged experience. Source: Facebook

Victim was 'completely unconscious'

One victim, 18-year-old Jaylena, told A Current Affair it was her first time clubbing and began to feel unwell about 20 minutes after dancing with a boy.

"I wanted to throw up. It felt like my heart was going to stop and I just remember calling someone to come and get me. I was completely unconscious in the car and no one could wake me until I got home," she said.

The next day, Jaylena discovered a strange mark on her leg and began to suspect she had been spiked.

"On my inner thigh, there was a small bruise with a needle mark that was pretty evident," she said.

Jaylena from Newcastle, who believes she was spiked in the leg with a needle.
Jaylena, 18, fell unconscious after being pricked with a needle duing her first ever clubbing experience. Source: A Current Affair/Channel 9

"It's just disgusting. How could you do that?"

"It goes beyond putting a pill or powder in someone's drink. You're actually injecting someone with a needle, with force enough to cause a bruise."

Another victim, Hannah, was out at the same club celebrating Ms Davis' birthday.

Her friends realised she was missing and found the 20-year-old at a nearby train station.

Noticing she was disoriented, her friends told her to check her legs, where she found a bruise "with a tiny little dot in the middle".

"It still had blood in it," Hannah told A Current Affair.

She went to a doctor the following day, and was given six months' worth of antiviral medication to protect her from blood borne diseases, like HIV.

'Girls, be careful'

It is not immediately clear what the women were drugged with but Ms Davis believes it could have been an Epipen or some type of insulin because the needle head was “very fine” and hard to feel.

“These girls are extremely lucky nothing worse came from it other than blacking out,” she wrote.

“Girls, be careful when you’re going out, stick with your mates. This is not going to become the new normal for us.”

Hannah, 20, also discovered a bruise with a pinprick in the centre on her leg after becoming disoriented at the same nightclub. Source: A Current Affair/Channel 9
Hannah, 20, also discovered a bruise with a pinprick in the centre on her leg after becoming disoriented at the same nightclub. Source: A Current Affair/Channel 9

She implored people to share her message.

One man called the allegations "sickening" and hoped those responsible were found while another man called it "bloody disgusting".

"That's repulsive. It shouldn't happen anywhere," one woman wrote.

NSW Police told Yahoo News Australia, Newcastle detectives are investigating after the incident on Friday.

“It’s understood a 20-year-old woman attended a venue on King Street, prior to feeling unwell and leaving the premises in the early hours of Saturday 4 December 2021,” police said.

“The woman later attended Gosford Hospital for treatment.”

“A further two women have come forward to police reporting similar incidents and feeling unwell after attending two licensed premises in Newcastle and Hamilton at the weekend.

“Police are awaiting toxicology results and have commenced further inquiries into the incidents.”

Drug needlings and young women

Needle spiking has become more common in the UK.

From September to October this year, there have been 198 confirmed reports of drink spiking in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to the Guardian.

In addition to the drink spiking there have also been 24 reports of drugging through some sort of injection.

Emma MacDonald, 21, went out to a pub in Glasgow and told Channel 4 she had no recollection of her night out but days later discovered a bruise on her arm from some type of needle.

Just recently, a 27-year-old woman living in Bath, England, told ITV News she was out with her fiancé on Saturday night but returned home, was “violently sick and passed out”.

She also claims she found a bruise, believed to be from a needle, on her arm.

However, some experts have cast doubt over whether it is possible to spike someone with an injection in public.

Fiona Measham, criminology chair at Liverpool University, told Cosmopolitan in November, the risk of spiking by injection is “very unlikely, but not impossible”.

Professor Adam Winstock from the Global Drugs Survey told the BBC it would be difficult for someone to inject someone with drugs on a night out.

"Normally you'd have to inject several millilitres, that's half a teaspoon full of drug - into somebody. That hurts and people notice,” he said.

However, Dr Shirin Lakhani, a cosmetic doctor based in London, said if someone was to use a smaller needle on a victim who had a few drinks “they might be less inclined to feel the scratch of a needle”.

Police are encouraging anyone who may have any information or may wish to report an incident to detectives to contact Newcastle Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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