Drunk woman neglected after passing out in Sydney karaoke bar
Sickening footage has emerged of a young woman passed out in a Korean karaoke bar after drinking two cocktails and one and a half bottles of the Japanese drink soju. Authorities have slammed the callous disregard by the venue staff, who didn’t even phone an ambulance to help her. WATCH THE VIDEO
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- 86 shots of Korean liquor soju meets a messy end
- Alleged drunk driver arrested after Glebe chaos crash
It started as a wild party with shirts off, passionate kisses and jugs of spirits but ended in near-disaster for one young woman.
And now the callous disregard of the woman’s companions and the security staff who were supposedly there to protect her has been slammed by authorities.
K Square Karaoke bar licensee Mr Heung Hung Ng has been issued with a warning, known as a “first strike”, after he allowed a drunk woman on site on April 20 last year.
The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority has imposed strikes on eight occasions against either the licensee, former licensee or approved manager of a karaoke bar, including K Square, in the past financial year.
Venues that incur three strikes face having their license revoked, significant fines and other sanctions.
This scheme is under review and is tipped to be changed in the second half of this year.
In the latest of what has been a series of incidents at karaoke or Korean bars, the young woman had consumed two cocktails and one and a half bottles of soju before entering the George St establishment sometime on April 20 last year.
She passed out at 11.01pm and began vomiting, yet her friends and venue staff failed to call an ambulance.
MORE FROM BEN PIKE:
Sydney brothels call for end to ‘bonk ban’
Families of Oatlands crash victims hit out at Liberal critic
It was only at 11.40pm, when police found her being carried out onto the street, that an ambulance was called (by police).
“That CCTV footage is quite frightening,” ILGA chair Philip Crawford said.
“I have children and you wouldn’t want to see your kids treated this way.
“It’s not only a breach of responsible service of alcohol but also just pure decency.
“If you see someone that sick you call the ambulance — which is of course what the cops have done.”
The footage appears to show a girl on the outer of a social group, seated on her own and looking at her phone.
Six minutes go by after she falls unconscious before a man sits next to her and appears to try and help her.
He then continues to sing and dance nearby.
She appears to vomit at 11.20pm and it is only then that people start attending to her properly by grabbing tissues and holding her head.
Others continue partying, with one woman dancing on the sofa near the girl’s head.
At 11.33pm a man and a security guard try to lift her up but they drop her and her head smacks against the glass table. She falls to the floor and remains there until they lift her out a few minutes later.
“She is not a very big person and she has got a lot of alcohol cursing through her and it would be terrible if someone ended up being killed,” Mr Crawford said.
“What I find alarming about soju is the range of alcohol content, which is between 15 per cent and 37 per cent.
“Basically the kids are drinking and they don’t know what they are getting.”
She made a full recovery.
Last year The Sunday Telegraph also revealed footage of a 86-shot soju drinking binge between five people at the Haru Fusion Soju Lounge in the CBD.
That ended with numerous drinkers being found outside passed out in pools of vomit.
Earlier this month the state government announced it was lifting the longstanding freeze on new liquor licences in the CBD and relaxing restrictions on late trading.
Originally published as Drunk woman neglected after passing out in Sydney karaoke bar