Inflation nightclub boss tells court: Police claims ‘made me ill’
The manager of King St nightclub Inflation, who is suing the state for defamation over police comments linking the club to drug use, has told a court she felt like the target of a “smear campaign”.
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A Melbourne nightclub manager says she didn’t get out of bed for days after a top police officer launched a media “smear campaign” linking her venue to drug dealing, overdoses and underage drinking.
Martha Tsamis, the director of King St’s Inflation nightclub, said she felt betrayed over remarks by former Victoria Police superintendent Brett Guerin in 2014.
“It was tarnishing my reputation. It was a betrayal and it was factually incorrect and a pure smear campaign,” she told a Supreme Court jury on Thursday. “I was sick. I didn’t get out of bed for three days.”
Ms Tsamis said she later received a “very threatening email” shaming her and calling her a criminal, causing her to fear for her safety.
She’s suing the state for defamation, but the government is standing by Mr Guerin’s comments, arguing they were true and made as fair comment.
Ms Tsamis said she was an industry mentor deterring the use of GHB or “juice”, a popular party drug linked to overdoses known as “blow outs”.
She said she worked with police, who would enter the club about seven times a night with up to 20 officers checking on the Saturday night “Cloud Nine” parties.
“We accept that. We want that,” Ms Tsamis said, adding her security guards conducted rigorous checks and face scanners had been installed to ensure black-listed people, minors and drug-affected patrons were barred.
Ms Tsamis said she had produced a manual for her staff to deal with managing people at the door or patrons who appeared drug-affected and hired responsible service of alcohol officers to patrol the venue.
The court was also played an education video she had commissioned, featuring popular DJs warning against GHB, which she claimed had received about 100,000 social media hits.
When asked if she was aware of patrons “blowing out” on GHB inside the venue, Ms Tsamis said the club had only a few ambulance call outs in 2013 and 2014.
Mr Guerin’s comments came shortly after police applied to restrict Ms Tsamis’s 24-hour liquor license and implement a 1.30am lockout and 3am close on claims of 59 underage drinking, violence and drug “incidents”.
The police application was withdrawn a year later.
The trial continues before Justice John Dixon on Friday.