Warning: graphic content
It was a weekend marred by trauma. Raya Meredith could not have known when she bought a ticket to the Splendour in the Grass music festival in July 2018 that it would end in a landmark lawsuit set to cost the state millions.
Before she even entered the gates at the three-day event, the then-27-year-old was subjected by NSW Police to an invasive strip-search after being approached by an officer with a sniffer dog.
A file image of an attendee and police at the Field Day Festival in Sydney in January 2020. Credit: Isabella Porras
Meredith was directed to an area containing makeshift cubicles at the North Byron Parklands. Her bag was taken. She was told by a female police officer to pull down her top, exposing her breasts, to take off her shorts and underwear,