An 18-year-old has described the terrifying moment she woke in the bathroom of a Western Australian club unable to move or speak after she suspects she was stabbed with a needle containing a stupefying "date rape" drug.
"I could see everything around me. I could hear everything around me but I could not move a muscle," Shayna, left, said yesterday.
She is recovering at home. The teen and her family are anxiously waiting on the results of hospital blood tests to determine what was in her system.
But it could be six months before she is cleared of contracting any disease, like hepatitis or HIV, if she was stabbed with a dirty needle, news.com.au reported.
It was one of three alleged needle attacks in Northbridge on the weekend — with a man turning up to Royal Perth Hospital about the same time as Shayna on Friday evening, saying he was stabbed in the arm while walking near the WA Museum site. Another teenage girl went to RPH on Saturday night with similar symptoms to Shayna, allegedly after an incident at The Court Hotel.
Shayna and her sister Miki, below left, have spoken out to warn other revellers to stay together and look after each other, saying it could have been so much worse if she had been alone.
Shayna said her adverse reaction was definitely not from drinking alcohol. She has epilepsy so barely drinks and her hospital discharge letter showed her blood alcohol at 0.00.
She believes she was stabbed soon after she and friends arrived at the Universal Bar about 11pm on Friday. She felt someone grab her right arm as they walked through to the toilets.
"I felt a scratch and then a needle shoot in me and I felt burning in my arm," she said. "When I yanked my arm away there was a blood spot."
She collapsed soon after entering the bathroom.
One of the Universal Bar owners said they were investigating and would help police.