Latest news with #NSWpolice
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- The Guardian
Judge suggests NSW police had ‘absolutely no evidence' to justify main strip-search in class action
A Sydney judge says the way the New South Wales police force defended a claim it unlawfully strip-searched a woman at a music festival – including a last-minute admission – was 'of grave concern to me'. Justice Dina Yehia made the comment in the NSW supreme court during closing arguments in a class action against the police. The state of NSW has disputed that the vast majority of strip-searches conducted by police between 2018 and 2022 at music festivals were unlawful. NSW police did, however, admit in court documents before the hearings began last week to unlawfully strip-searching the lead plaintiff, Raya Meredith, at a music festival in 2018. Meredith is the lead plaintiff of a group of 3,000 people, including children, searched by police. She was strip-searched at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass festival after a drug dog sniffed in her direction but then walked on. The class action is being led by Slater and Gordon lawyers and the Redfern Legal Centre. Julian Sexton SC, acting on behalf of NSW police, on Thursday disputed the plaintiff's call for aggravated damages to be paid because of the force's conduct during proceedings. He argued aggravated damages could not be awarded because Meredith had not been recalled to give evidence about how she felt about NSW police's conduct during the class action. Yehia said in response she was 'much more concerned' about the police having three iterations of its defence before backflipping shortly before proceedings began and admitting it did unlawfully strip-search Meredith. 'That is a matter, I'll be quite honest with you, of grave concern to me,' Yehia said on Thursday. The judge said she was concerned the police defence suggested officers had formed a reasonable suspicion to strip-search Meredith based on 'things like her demeanour, what was said outside the tent, and [the officers] recalling it was said outside the tent and not inside'. 'There is absolutely no evidence, unless you can take me to it and I've missed something,' Yehia said to Sexton. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'All I have is the officers' statements that say either they don't remember the search, or both that they don't remember the search nor remember the lead plaintiff. In those circumstances, I'm just not sure how this could ever have proceeded in the way that it did with the initial pleadings.' In the days before the hearing began, the state of NSW withdrew 22 witnesses, mostly police officers who had been due to contest Meredith's version of events. That change saw the case reduced from a scheduled 2o days to three days. Sexton argued the defence was based on police 'practice' in such instances, adding it was 'not [based] on distinct recollections of somebody'. Yehia said the police suggesting there were 'reasonable grounds' for the search due to Meredith's physical appearance and body language were 'specific matters relating to this plaintiff in circumstances where [the female police officer who searched her] not only doesn't remember, but as far as I understand it, didn't even make a notebook entry in relation to that interaction'. Closing arguments before Yehia were expected to end on Thursday.
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- The Guardian
NSW police argument that unlawful strip-search was necessary is ‘outrageous', class action lawyer says
New South Wales police made an 'outrageous' argument that it was 'objectively necessary' to search a woman's genital area during a strip-search at a music festival, despite admitting the search was unlawful, a court has heard. The police force admitted in court documents that its July 2018 strip-search of Raya Meredith at Splendour in the Grass – which discovered nothing illegal – was unlawful and unjustified. Meredith is the lead plaintiff of a group of 3,000 people 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 – including of children – by police. The affected cohort could be more than twice that size. Last week, the court heard from Meredith, who gave emotional testimony about her strip-search by police in a makeshift tarpaulin tent at the 2018 Splendour in the Grass after a drug dog sniffed in her direction but then walked on. During the search, Meredith – who was 27 at the time and postpartum – was asked to remove her tampon Acting for the plaintiffs, Kylie Nomchong SC, told the court in her closing argument that NSW police should pay aggravated damages due to their conduct during the class action. She said on Wednesday that the police, who are yet to give their closing argument, had argued in a submission that aspects of Meredith's search were 'objectively reasonably necessary' despite admitting the search was unlawful. 'We get to the quite outrageous submissions ... where the defendant is asking your honour to infer that it was objectively necessary to search the plaintiff's breasts and genital area,' Nomchong told the court. 'It is unbelievably offensive to assert, without any evidence whatsoever, that there was some objectively reasonable basis on the part of the searching officer to inspect the plaintiff's vagina, to ask her to pull out her tampon, to ask her to bear her buttocks and anal area and to bend over and drop her breasts. It's just offensive.' Justice Dina Yehia responded by stating she would also question the police's legal team. 'I'm not quite sure I understand those submissions, given the way this matter has proceeded,' the judge said. Nomchong also raised the decision by NSW police not to call any witnesses. In the days before the hearing began, the state of NSW withdrew 22 witnesses, mostly police officers, who were due to contest Meredith's version of events. That change saw the case reduced from a scheduled 2o days to three days. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The female police officer who conducted the strip search was one of the witnesses the police force withdrew. 'All we know about her is that there's nothing in her notebook and she has no recollection of it whatsoever,' Nomchong told the court. 'The only available inference is that any evidence from those police officers would not have assisted the defendant.' Nomchong told the court that because no officers were called, it was difficult to know whether it was 'deliberate or not' that a male officer who came into the tent while Meredith was undressed. 'On the plaintiff's unchallenged evidence, he came in and he observed her in that position, there is no basis on which to say he wasn't a participant in the search,' Nomchong told the court. 'He didn't stand outside the tent and say: 'knock, knock, can I come in? Is it all right?' He burst in unannounced.' Closing arguments before Yehia were expected to end on Wednesday.
