‘I could have been raped’: Toronto woman’s scary night out

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A routine night out turned into a nightmare for Toronto woman who says her drink was spiked at a nightclub during the long weekend. She also says rather than taking her seriously, one of the employees at the nightclub suggested she confront the couple she suspected of drugging her.

“I did nothing wrong. I wasn’t even overly drunk,” Karen Lee Roberts, who works as a UX/UI (user experience/user interface) designer for U.S.-based emergency services provider, told National Post on Tuesday evening. “I didn’t leave my drink unattended. I always hold it right in front of me or above my head if I’m walking through a crowd. I never leave it anywhere, especially in a crowded nightclub like that.”

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Roberts was at CODA, a nightclub that hosts dance parties and live events at Bathurst St., along with her friend on Saturday night. “He’s a 6’4″, big guy and I feel safe going out with him. We go out all the time.”

In an email to the National Post on Tuesday afternoon, CODA’s management said they “are aware of an incident that occurred over this past weekend” and that the matter is being reviewed internally. “At this time there is a police investigation ongoing so we cannot comment any further at this time.”

Roberts, 34, first shared the incident on Reddit, where she writes how other women reached out to her on Facebook sharing similar experiences.

Toronto Police, meanwhile, confirmed receiving a call on March 31. “Officers are investigating one call at Bathurst St and Bloor St West area, where a woman is reporting that she was drugged at an establishment in the area,” wrote Laurie McCann, a media relations officer with Toronto Police Service. “We encourage anyone that believes they were drugged to seek medical attention and contact police to make a report so we can investigate further.”

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As for the night at the club, Roberts recounts arriving at CODA at around 11 p.m. Her friend was “drinking much more” than her that night, while Roberts had two beers before coming to the club and was carrying a cannabis vape pen. “We were both on the dance floor. He would wander off and then come back and check on me from time to time. Totally fine. I met two other girls on the dance floor, I was happy to stand there,” said Roberts.

Roberts remembered speaking to a woman standing next to her. “She said she was by herself, and I said, ‘I’ll keep an eye out for you tonight.’ It’s something you do when you go to these kind of crowded places.” In front of her, she says there was another guy and a couple was right next to her. “The guy seemed super nice, and the couple started talking to me.”

The conversation with the couple, she says, seemed nothing out of the ordinary at first.

It was 1 a.m., and having finished her first beer at the bar, Roberts ordered another one, along with a bottle of water. “I had my beer on the counter and turned my head away from it for not more than four seconds to see if I could find my friend, because I hadn’t see him for a little while. I was still holding onto my beer on the counter, if I can recall correctly.”

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She turned back, took a sip and soon after started to feel weird.

“I started feeling clamminess in my hands and the feeling of drugs in my body. I know the feeling. It’s not like you’re getting drunk. It’s completely different,” she said.

Later on, as she continued to feel worse, she turned to the couple to tell the woman what she was going through. “She said ‘no, you’re not drugged, you’re fine. Stay here with me and my boyfriend.’ I said I am pretty sure I’ve been drugged.”

And the woman grabbed her hand, Roberts said, almost in an attempt to stall her. “That’s not a normal response. When you tell any girl or anyone (that you think you are drugged). The red flag went up.”

At that point, it gets a bit fuzzy, she said. “There are memory blanks. I don’t really remember the next thing, but I remember being at the coat check line to get my coat. I knew I needed to go outside. I knew I needed an ambulance. I needed help. I’ve been drugged.”

Roberts says the lady at the coat check asked her to find the couple she suspected had drugged her. “I was like are you kidding me? You’re sending me back on the dance floor where these people drugged me? To send me back on the dance floor when I’m telling you I’m drugged is ridiculous, and I’m telling her I didn’t willingly do drugs tonight,” she said.

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Angry after her conversation, Roberts said she went to the dance floor to confront the couple. “I was completely out of it, and I don’t know what happened from there, because I remember being on the dance floor to look for them. I couldn’t find them, and after that there is a blank in my memory.”

National Post’s email to CODA to address the allegations against the club’s employee came back with the response: “At this time there is a police investigation ongoing so we cannot comment any further at this time.”

Roberts says a security guard took her seriously and called the ambulance and the police at around 2:19 a.m., “I had texted my friend saying I am going to (St. Michael’s Hospital), where I told them I wanted to get all the testing done to see what’s in my body,” she says. “They took blood, urine and said they don’t test for GHB.”

GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) is a date-rape drug and prevents victims from resisting sexual assault, notes Government of Canada on its website. It can be slipped into a drink unnoticed and comes in the form of powder or capsules. The effects are felt within five to 30 minutes.

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Ariane Brunet went through something similar when someone spiked her drink at a concert venue in Montreal. She had two drinks after which she suddenly started to feel sick. She first shared her story on social media and later in an interview with CBC in Dec. last year. She says she remembers the incident in bits and pieces, mostly the sounds, because she couldn’t open her eyes. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Brunet says she asked the paramedics, nurse and the doctor to test her for drugs but they said they don’t do that test there. “I couldn’t understand why, when I asked for a test, I didn’t get the response I needed. I felt let down by our system,” Brunet told CBC. Although tests detecting 200 psychoactive substances such as GHB are now available in emergency rooms across Quebec, according to CBC’s Dec. report, the rape kits are not available in all ERs.

It’s been three days since the incident, and Roberts said it’s terrifying that she still doesn’t know what’s in her body. Her test results from the hospital came back Tuesday and showed elevated alcohol and cannabis in her system, which was “not a surprise because I was drinking and using my weed vape pen. This is not out of the ordinary for me on a Saturday to have beers and weed in the evening at a bar.”

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Meanwhile, Roberts is now encouraging people who have shared their stories of getting drugged at the club with her to file a complaint with the police. “You make a big stink if someone tries to **** with you,” she said.

“It’s scary. I could have died. I could have gotten raped or been sex trafficked. I don’t know what could have happened, right?” said Roberts. Despite gaps in her memory from the night, she said she is certain she was not assaulted. “I was in the crowded club, so I’m assuming nothing happened there. I was also on my period, and I still had my tampon when I got to the hospital.”

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