Woman files police report after bartender at Winnipeg nightclub allegedly spikes her drink

A Winnipeg woman has filed a police report, alleging her drink was spiked by a bartender at a nightclub.

What was supposed to be a fun Halloween event turned into a real nightmare for Ainsley Malegus last October.

Malegus and her friends went to Cowboys Roadhouse, a nightclub in Winnipeg that’s popular among younger adults. After getting a drink from the bar, she says that’s when things took a turn for the worse.

“I remember thinking ‘wow that shot hit fast,’” recalled Malegus.

“I felt a little off and queasy and stumbling. And after making it downstairs to meet up with my friends, the rest of the night was a blur.

“Waking up that morning, 8 p.m. actually the following night after sweating buckets of sweat and just being out of it, we all came to a conclusion of what happened.”

Malegus believes her drink was spiked by the person who poured it.

“The bartender ended up drugging me. I didn’t have any other drinks from before that. After taking that one shot, I would say about 30 seconds from me walking down the stairs and trying to meet my friends is when it all hit and went downhill from there,” she said.

After posting about her experience online, Malegus says others have reached out with similar stories.

“I’ve had hundreds of people reach out to me with their stories with unfortunate rape, and drugging and needle stabbing, the list unfortunately goes on,” she said.

CityNews spoke with another woman who says she too believes the bartender at Cowboys Roadhouse spiked her drink back in October, but she did not feel comfortable sharing her story publicly.

For Malegus it was important to raise awareness and open a dialogue with other victims.

“I don’t want to get drugged by an establishment and let them get away with it,” said Malegus.

Amina Doreh, who works with sexual assault survivors, says it’s important for victims of a possible drugging to reach out to something they know and trust for help – whether that means seeking medical attention or filing a police report.

“A lot of survivors of that kind of violence, which is what I like to call it, feel a lot of shame and guilt of ‘why didn’t I stop it,’ feeling like the onus is on them to stop the behaviour from happening when in fact it is the perpetrator, the person who’s spiking their drink or the person who’s taking advantage of them,” said Doreh, the public education and media coordinator with the Sexual Assault Support Center of Ottawa.

In November, a spokesperson for Cowboys Roadhouse told CityNews they were actively reviewing the allegations made by Malegus.

However Cowboys Roadhouse did not provide a response when questioned recently about the outcome of their review.

Malegus has filed a police report and is hoping her story serves as a cautionary tale for others.

“I put out this awareness for other people to hear their stories, so other people can come forward and know they are not alone when it comes to this Cowboys incident,” she said.