WOMAN RECALLS DRUGGED DRINK THAT LED TO RAPE

When A.J. woke up in a Florida hospital nearly three years ago, she thought
she'd been in a car accident. But she'd been drugged in a nightclub, taken
out to a parking lot and raped.

Now, the 32-year-old Toronto-area resident wants to warn women about
accepting drinks from friendly strangers.

She says she doesn't want her distinctive Polish name to be used in case
someone tries to track her down.

Analysis of A.J.'s blood revealed the presence of gamma hydroxybutyrate
(GHB). Used by bodybuilders for its fat-burning properties, the drug is
known to induce sleep when combined with alcohol.

GHB, Halcion and Rohypnol are the main culprits in drug-related sexual
assaults in Greater Toronto, said Detective Constable Brian Thomson of the
Toronto police sexual assault squad.

The products, which can render victims unconscious, are odourless,
tasteless, colourless and may be impossible to detect in the body after 24
hours.

Several cases are slated for Toronto courts, Thomson said.

A.J. and her sister were fulfilling their dream of wintering in Florida.

On the night of Feb. 18, 1996, A.J. was on the dance floor of a ritzy Boca
Raton nightclub when a beefy man she'd met earlier brought her a drink.

``I found it odd that he'd bought a drink for me, but not for himself, but
he said he was driving,'' said A.J. ``He kept bringing the drink back to me,
and I kept taking sips. It was hot and I just thought he was being
attentive.''

Then, she found herself becoming weak. ``He looked at me with like a smirk,
not like he was concerned, and kept asking if I wanted to go outside.''

That's the last thing she recalls until she woke up in hospital with a sore
neck and fingerprints on her wrists and armpits.

A.J.'s sister, who had been playing pool, had gone looking for her. She
found an unconscious A.J. in the rear parking lot with two men. She was
naked from the waist down and slumped halfway out of the back of a Jeep.

It would be three months before test results came back showing GHB in A.J.'s
system.

The men were charged with sexual battery. They claimed they'd had consensual
sex.

After the suspects' photos appeared in news reports, police received calls
from women who believed they had been drugged and raped by one or both of
them. The authorities said they couldn't lay charges without physical
evidence.

Eight months later, the case was thrown out because of several issues.

In her summary, assistant state attorney Barbara Burns said: ``I firmly
believe that the victim was drugged and then raped by these defendants. What
I believe as a prosecutor and what I can prove at trial are two very
different assessments.''

A.J., who said the incident has left her paranoid and unable to sleep, has
filed a civil suit against the two men.

Checked-by: Don Beck