Sunshine Coast drink spiking on Ocean Street leaves woman in coma

A young woman was left comatose after a suspected drink spiking at a popular Sunshine Coast night-life district and her family says about 30 others have similar horror stories to tell.

Asta Joli says she has spoken to dozens of young women who have been drugged on Ocean Street in Maroochydore.

A woman’s nightclub nightmare has unfolded in the heart of the Sunshine Coast after a drink spiking left her comatose and relatives fearing she would die in hospital.

Asta Joli woke on Sunday, November 19 to the devastating news that her family member was in a coma.

The woman had gone out on Saturday with a friend, a rare occasion for the young mother, and had been dancing at the popular nightclub district on Ocean Street until everything went black.

Ms Joli, who is speaking with permission from her relative, said an ambulance was called after her family member started showing symptoms of psychosis on the street.

“She was going into seizures in the ambulance and stopped breathing at the hospital,” she said.

Ms Joli said the family had initially been told that it was an overdose, but the story didn’t add up.

“There was a lot of confusion,” she said.

“I’m absolutely traumatised. I thought she was going to die.”

Ms Joli said after her relative came out of an induced coma it became clear that she had been unknowingly drugged during her night out but there was little to no investigation done in the hospital.

“She had non-stop doctors and nurses asking her if she takes drugs and they just went down that path, which I know that they have to do, but it just seemed to be skimmed over,” she said.

Sunshine Coast police on patrol at the Ocean Street safe night precinct in Maroochydore.

“There’s no talk about what she was drugged with, they didn’t seem to want to know too much about it. I think they should be really focusing in on what these young ones have been drugged with.”

After Ms Joli put the word out, warning others of what had happened, she was shocked to find so many others had a shared experience.

“I’ve been talking to a lot of girls who have had it happen to them, and they all think it is their fault,” she said.

“I’ve had probably 30 people reach out saying that it has happened to them, just on Ocean Street alone.

“The more I’m talking about this, everybody seems to have a story.”

Ms Joli said a report had been made to police about the incident but more needed to be done to support victims.

“Right now she just never wants to go out again,” she said.

“Why isn’t there more out there about this? It’s disgusting.”

Sunshine Coast Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Tim Byrnes said investigating incidents of drink spiking comes with a unique set of challenges.

“Obviously the nature of the symptoms impacts on the victim’s ability to recall the circumstances surrounding the event,” he said.

“It is not until we, working with medical staff, look at things such as toxicology that we can reveal what agent we might be dealing with.”

Double Barrel and Panwa Thai on Ocean Street both up for sale

A spokesman for the Queensland Police Service (QPS) said all reports of drink spiking were taken seriously and that the matter was still under investigation.

“The QPS encourages anyone who believes they have had their drink spiked to formally report the matter to police as soon as possible,” they said.

“This ensures police can obtain all relevant evidence in a timely manner and assists investigators.”