‘Drink spike’ probe fizzles

POLICE say there is no evidence to support a Surfers Paradise drink-spiking claim by a girl whose parents publicly accused a member of Bernard Tomic’s entourage.

Paige McCarthy, 21, two weeks ago laid a complaint to police that she had her drink spiked on March 4 at The Bedroom nightclub. Her parents, using their Facebook account ‘Pete n Lee McCarthy, publicly warned people to watching out for drink-spiking, saying she ended up in hospital after a friend found her passed out in the bathroom.

They claimed that while Tomic was not involved someone in his entourage “did it”.

But in response to questions from the Bulletin, a Queensland Police Service statement says investigating officers have yet to find any evidence of drink-spiking occurring.

“Police have conducted an investigation into a number of recent allegations of drinkspiking incidents in the Surfers Paradise area,” the statement said. “Licensed premises at the centre of these allegations have co-operated with police during these investigations.

“At this time, no evidence has been uncovered to substantiate claims that drink- spiking incidents were committed within the nominated licensed premises.”

Soon after the McCarthys went public, Tomic told the Bulletin he had been at The Bedroom on March 4 but at one point had 20 people in his booth and hardly knew any of them.

Surfers Paradise bar staff also say Tomic is never any trouble when he goes out and would have nothing to do with drink-spiking or anyone involved in it.

Management from The Bedroom, which supplied police with CCTV from the night, said at the time staff reviewed the March 4 tape which tracked the patron throughout.

“Our review revealed no indication of drink spiking by any third party in the venue,” Bedroom management said.

Lee McCarthy told the Bulletin yesterday she was not surprised by the outcome of the investigation so far: “Police said unless there is clear visual evidence of someone putting something in your drink and proving what it was, it is almost impossible to convict.”

Mrs McCarthy said they were still awaiting results of the toxicology tests.

Tomic, whose tennis ranking has slumped to 174, is scheduled to resume playing a lower-tier Challenger level tournament in Lille this week.