"Whats the end game in all of this?": Father speaks out on daughters repeated spiking in Sheffield

The father of a student, spiked 3 times, has unveiled his disgust at the spiking endemic in Sheffield and the country.

His daughter was recently involved in a spiking attack at the University of Sheffield’s Student Union nightclub, the Foundry, where 5 people were spiked in one evening.

The parent, who wishes to stay anonymous to protect his daughter’s identity, said: “From my side, I get missed calls from 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. It makes you feel sick.

“It makes you wonder, what is the end game in all of this? They’re doing this to girls and I have no idea what sort of kicks they get out of it, but as a parent your thought is why, what could have happened?”

The father of the 21 year old medicine student, said the first time she was spiked she was in a bad condition and her friend was hospitalised.

6 October saw a group of 5 girls from the University of Sheffield, 4 of which were part of the cheer society, spiked in the same evening.

The medicine student aided them all and helped them get to hospital safely. One of the targets that night was left unconscious for over 5 hours and had no phone or identification on her.

The father believes more needs to be done in terms of education and awareness.

He said: “if you have friends or know somebody doing this and keep quiet, you are complicit, you’re as bad as the person doing it. There needs to be something done.

“This isn’t you telling on a friend or being unloyal, this is stopping something tragic happening to women and why should they not have the same rights as guys, to go out and have fun without the fear of being spiked or potentially even worse things happening to them?”

He advises his children to be vigilant when going out into clubs or parties, and to always choose bottled drinks rather than open glasses, to minimise the chances of being spiked. He added that this is an awful thing to have to do during the years that should be the best of their lives.

“I’m not being funny but if this was happening to the men would it be different? Would more be done?

“Why should women not be able to go out and have a good time? Because they’re fearing that some guy is going to do that to you.

“It’s horrific and it needs to be addressed through education and the media.”

(Example of follow-up on exclusive story for 3rd year news project at university)