A woman who was subjected to an unlawful strip search at a 2018 music festival has been awarded at least $93,000 in damages, in a judgement that could see thousands of others also receive compensation.
WARNING: This article contains graphic content.
Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia handed down her judgement on Tuesday, finding Raya Meredith, who was 27 at the time, had been subjected to "humiliating" treatment at the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival in Byron Bay.
The Sydney woman launched the legal case after being searched at the event where an officer asked her to remove a tampon while naked.
Ms Meredith then became the lead plaintiff in a class action involving 3,000 people who were searched by NSW Police at music festivals between 2016 and 2022.
The legal team representing Ms Meredith previously described her experience of being strip searched as "akin to things that would happen during a sexual assault".
During a hearing in the case in May, Ms Meredith's lawyer detailed how the woman was ordered to expose "all parts of her body" when a male constable walked in.
"[Ms Meredith] was subjected to particularly humiliating treatment while at a total loss of liberty," Justice Yehia said in her judgement.
In a backflip earlier this year, the state government admitted that NSW Police had acted unlawfully during the search on Ms Meredith.
Justice Yehia said it was confounding that NSW Police had still not offered an apology to Ms Meredith.
She ordered the state pay $93,000 in compensation and aggravated damages for assault, battery and false imprisonment and for the way police had conducted the case.
Supervising solicitor Samantha Lee said Justice Yehia's decision should act as a deterrent to the state and to the police.
"What [the] message from this case is 'police get your hands off young people and children's bodies'," she said.
The class action relating to thousands of more strip searches at music festivals will return to court at a later date.
Read the full article published on the ABC news website on Septemeber 30 2025
