Lottie Ryan has revealed she and her sister Bonnie were spiked on a night out in Dublin ten years ago.
The RTÉ 2FM presenter opened up about her experience amid growing reports of drink spiking and spiking via injection in bars and nightclubs across parts of Ireland and the UK.
Speaking on The Jennifer Zamparelli Show, the 36-year-old said: “It happened to me and my sister on the same night.”
“It happened on a night out many moons ago and I’ll pre-empt that, not that I should have to, by saying that I’m not a big drinker.”
“I’m a cheap date and I know how much alcohol I can handle and it’s not very much. I go out on the dancefloor and I’m sweating to bits by the end of the night, that’s what I do on a night out,” Lottie explained.
“So, I went out with my sister and a couple of friends and we were dancing, and I wasn’t as cautious as I should have been with my drink. In hindsight I’m so annoyed with myself for doing it and I should have known better at the time, but my drink wasn’t far away from me.”
“It was on the floor beside me and in the moment, I must have thought it was fine and it wasn’t a big deal but clearly it wasn’t fine.”
The new mum recalled: “So, I went from being a little bit buzzy, soberish, to being the drunkest I’ve ever been in my life within the space of ten minutes. I knew something was wrong instantly because I couldn’t speak.”
“I was having clear thoughts, but I couldn’t verbalise and I remember looking at my sister and she did not look good and I thought to myself, she looks the way I feel. Something is after happening here. Something is not good; something is not right.”
“I felt like I couldn’t speak, and I felt there was something coming over me. I know that we had to get out of there and go home ASAP.”
“I was scared as to how quickly it was happening, so I grabbed Bonnie and left immediately, didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Left out coats in the cloakroom because something was very, very wrong.”
Lottie continued: “From the door of the nightclub to the taxi, I could feel my legs going. I can’t describe how quickly this happened, it was so quick. I was holding onto the wall and there were people laughing at us because they obviously thought we were completely locked.”
“Bonnie was very sick. I was with her the whole time. We both woke up the next morning and both of us were like what in god’s name happened to us?”
The popular presenter also said that she didn’t tell their mother at the time of the incident and also decided not to report it to police.
She explained: “We didn’t because I felt responsible that I had gone out with Bonnie.”
Last Friday, it was announced that an awareness campaign warning about the possible spiking of people with drugs in bars and nightclubs is being planned.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said he had met the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to hear its concerns.
As well as the practice of spiking drinks, Minister Harris said there had been quite a few cases reported in the UK of “the more worrying phenomenon” of people being spiked with drugs via needles.
