Revellers have abandoned Rapture nightclub following the owner’s controversial comments about a woman who was too ‘fat and plain’ to get her drink spiked.
An hour after the Perth nightclub opened to party-goers on Friday night, only 15 revellers were seen inside the relatively empty club a week after the 19-year-old claimed her drink was tampered with.
Around 20 people protesting the owner’s remarks and three men believed to be undercover police were seen congregating outside the venue.
Two girls who are regulars at the venue told the West Australian that Friday night is the quietest they’d ever seen it.
‘It’s very quiet, we’ve never seen it this quiet. But that’s the owner’s fault,’ one said.
Two girls who are regulars at the venue said that Friday night is the quietest they’d ever seen it in the club
Rapture nightclub owner Neil Temple Scott, 66, ridiculed a young woman who complained that her drink was spiked last Saturday night
Another pair of girls said they decided against boycotting because they’ve ‘always been treated really well’ at Rapture.
‘We know the security guards. Yeah, the owner could’ve responded better to the girl’s claims but in the end, he did review the footage,’ one of them said.
Two others entered a toilet cubicle together and labelled the drink-spiking claims as ‘just a bunch of bulls**t’ but acknowledged the response to her was ‘disgusting.’
Owner Neil Scott, 66, has been under fire for his controversial comments after 19-year-old Shantel Smith claimed she had her drink spiked last Saturday night.
Mr Scott said that Ms Smith had created ‘fairytale’ as part of her ‘desire to be important’, but he refused to believe it.
‘I’ve dealt with spoilt kids before. This one felt so entitled she posted my response which was designed to wake her up to the real world,’ he said.
The uproar began after Shantel Smith, 19, sent the nightclub a message via Facebook saying she believed she had been spiked
The 19-year-old described the nightclub’s response as ‘disgusting’
‘Her multiple scenarios in the story would have the same odds of being true as the winner of the $100million Powerball.’
Mr Scott stood by his controversial comments on Friday, telling 7 News: ‘I’m not sorry and I don’t regret it … the woman wasn’t attractive, particularly, and she was a bit overweight but that wasn’t what it was about.’
Mr Scott remained unphased by the small protest and even claimed it was ‘good publicity.’
The uproar began after Ms Smith sent the nightclub a message via Facebook saying she believed she had been spiked.
The 19-year-old said she had only had two or three drinks before entering the club and then one at the premises.
Ms Smith then said she spent the next two and a half hours vomiting and experiencing other ‘symptoms of a date rape drug.’
She said she didn’t see any bouncers near the bar and suggested the club beef up its security to protect its reputation.
But Mr Scott was unconvinced, sending back a scathing response and questioning why anyone would try to spike her drink.
‘Why would anyone want to spike your drink? Did you attend a hospital and have your stomach pumped for evidence?’ the response read, as shared by Ms Smith online.
‘Are you worth someone trying to spike your drink?
What Ms Smith sent Rapture’s Facebook page after her night out that prompted Mr Scott’s response
‘We think this is a beat up and we believe that no one would be stupid enough to waste their drugs on spiking anyone’s drink.’
Speaking with 9 News after the incident, the club’s owner shamed the young woman, labelling her as ‘not particularly attractive’.
‘Lets face it, why would somebody spike her drink? Why would they do that? What are they hoping to get? What is she hoping to get from it?’ Mr Scott said.
‘I don’t know if she thinks she’s special enough to be spiked, I don’t know if that’s how it works.’
Mr Scott then told the West Australian the ‘plain Jane’ teenager had more than likely made up the story for attention, adding she never reported the spiking incident to any of the Rapture staff.
‘She’s not a particularly attractive girl. It’s just implausible to imagine that she had her drink spiked, it just doesn’t sort of add up.’
‘She’s just a very plain Jane type of girl. I can’t understand why anybody would be possessed by her.’
When she reported the alleged incident to the venue, Rapture Nightclub in Perth, it sent her this response instead of apologising
Ms Smith described the nightclub’s response as ‘disgusting’.
‘The response I received was absolutely disgusting after the message I sent them was extremely polite and just requesting they increase their security,’ she said.
Early on Monday morning he posted CCTV of Ms Smith at the club, claiming it as proof her drink couldn’t have been spiked.
‘The large girl with the white top, the short black skirt and the black and white shoes is Shantel Smith, the girl who claimed to have had her drink spiked,’ he wrote.
‘She can be seen entering Rapture Nightclub at 10.58pm and leaving at 2.53am. Note none of her friends seems perturbed at all.
‘She seems in good spirits and did not leave the club once in the 2 hours 55 minutes of attendance. Nor did she seek help or assistance from any of the 14 staff on duty.’
Mr Scott was vilified for posting the CCTV footage online with hundreds of angry punters threatening to boycott the venue.
‘Regardless if this young girl was in fact spiked at your club is besides the point. You victimised and humiliated her,’ one woman wrote.
Mr Scott early on Monday morning he posted CCTV of Ms Smith entering the leaving the club to support his claim that her drink was never spiked