Richmond student's shock after being left 'comatose' in 'spiking' attack

By Rory Poulter

27th Oct 2021 | Local News

A 20-year-old university student from Richmond has released shocking video footage showing how she was left virtually comatose after her drink was spiked.

Illana El-baz was targeted at a nightclub in Bristol just three weeks ago and appears to be among a growing number of young women targeted in this way.

The video footage, which was taken by her boyfriend, shows her lying semi-paralysed on a staircase after she was taken home.

In the full recording, the University of Bristol undergraduate can be seen struggling to get up the stairs, her eyes rolling as her head falls into the handrail.

Miss El-baz gave the BBC permission to broadcast the clip to highlight the dangers of spiking – when victims are drugged without their knowledge either through their drinks or physically with needles.

The third-year student said she believes she was spiked by a fellow clubber who approached her and asked her to dance.

"The moment I told him I was with my boyfriend he left me completely. An hour later I went back home and it hit and I was completely paralysed," she added.

Miss El-baz, who represented Richmond in judo at the London Youth Games as a teenager and was a pupil at Putney High School, said she had been 'lucky I was with my friends'.

She called on clubs to do more to prevent spiking by, for example, put lids on drinks – as with takeaway coffee cups – to reduce the risk of them being tampered with. "I think it is shocking that they don't," she said.

Miss El-baz spoke out as female students across the country said they would boycott clubs from today in protest at the number of girls being targeted, including reports of being injected with drugs.

     

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