A woman has claimed she was spiked by a needle injection during a night out.
Student Zara Owen, 19, went out with friends at Nottingham’s Pryzm nightclub on Monday, 11th October.
She remembers entering the nightclub through a metal detector and going to the bar, but does not remember anything after that.
Zara woke up the next morning in bed with “almost zero recollection from that night.”
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She did not drink much and ate before going out, and explains in her now viral post that she did not have a hangover.
However, she felt a “sharp agonising pain” in her leg when she woke up and when travelling to campus, Zara noticed she had a limp.
She wrote in her post: “You hear about drink spiking so naturally you cover your bottle to prevent any unwanted substances going in but what’s new is injections.”
Zara and her mum went to the hospital to get checked out but after waiting for more than eight hours, she left in the early hours of the morning without receiving medical attention.
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“The next morning I felt my leg and examined it to a further extent as I didn’t get any help medically. I touched the part where I was in the most pain and I found a pinprick. I had been spiked.”
Zara believes she may have been spiked because of her memory loss and the pain in her leg. In her post, Zara also mentioned similar cases of women being spiked with a syringe.
She says she is now “fine” and didn’t suffer any “drastic” side effects other than memory loss and wants to raise awareness by sharing her story.
A spokesperson for Pryzm nightclub urged anyone who is concerned to contact both the club and the police. “We take all allegations of this nature seriously," the nightclub said in a statement to Tyla. "The safety and welfare of our guests is our number one priority and we do everything we can to create a safe and fun night out.
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"We urge anyone who sees suspicious behaviour, or suspects they have been a victim of spiking, to seek assistance immediately from a member of staff or security, who are trained to help and who also have the support of our onsite medic.
"We would also encourage them to contact police, so that any allegation can be properly investigated.”
Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome also said she is in contact with the police following reports of a student being spiked with a needle at Przym nightclub in the city.
She tweeted: "I'm aware of extremely concerning reports of suspected spiking in Nottingham nightclubs, including by injection, and am in discussion with @nottswomenscent.
"If you have any information, please get in touch with @nottspolice, @nottswomenscent or me."
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Superintendent Kathryn Craner, of Nottinghamshire Police, tells Tyla: “We are currently investigating reports of individuals suspecting that their drinks have been spiked.
“Linked to this a small number of victims have said that they may have felt a scratching sensation as if someone may have spiked them physically. Consequently, we are actively investigating all these reports.
“We are treating all of these incidents very seriously and are working with licensed premises and our partner agencies including the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham City Council and East Midlands Ambulance Service in undertaking thorough investigations.
“We have a dedicated group of officers currently carrying out CCTV enquiries at various venues where we have received such reports.
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“Our enquiries into these incidents are ongoing but we understand people may be concerned about incidents like this and want to reassure the public we are working incredibly hard to investigate.
Craner also said Nottinghamshire Police have arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of class A and class B drugs and cause to administer poison or noxious thing with intent to injure, aggrieve and annoy following a report of an incident in Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham city centre, on 16th October 2021.
The arrest is part of our ongoing investigations into alleged spiking reports in the city. The man has now been bailed with conditions as Nottinghamshire continue to investigate.
“What we need is that if any person experiences such an incident whilst on a night out that they or their friends make contact with us immediately in order that we can investigate at the earliest opportunity and secure evidence quickly.
“We do not believe that these are targeted incidents; they are distinctly different from anything we have seen previously as victims have disclosed a physical scratch type sensation before feeling very unwell. This is subtly different from feelings of intoxication through alcohol according to some victims.”
There have been similar reports in Edinburgh and Dundee. Victims say they have been injected with a needle in their leg, hands and back and woke up with no recollection from the night before.
They are left with a pinprick mark surrounded by a giant bruise.
Those being spiked via injection also carry the risk of shared or unclean needles being used, posing threats of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.
On Tuesday, a man was arrested by Nottinghamshire police after an investigation was launched following three women reporting being injected in the last two weeks.
A 19-year-old woman said she was targeted at Stealth nightclub on 12th October. She later visited hospital and had blood samples taken, the BBC reports.
A spokesperson for Stealth nightclub said: “Here at Stealth, we have to date had two women who have reported feeling unwell and suspected they might have been spiked.
"Both were seen by our on-site medic, and we are currently liaising with police to aid in their investigations."
For further advice on spiking please visit spiked Drinks | Nottinghamshire Police.
For help or more information, please visit drinkaware.
Featured Image Credit: Zara OwenTopics: News