South Yorkshire teen’s warning after night out in Sheffield ends in hospital after suspected drink spiking

A young man from South Yorkshire has warned others about the dangers of leaving their drinks unattended after a frightening incident in Sheffield. 

Yiannis Revenikiotis, from Maltby, went out with his friend on Boxing Day to continue the festive celebrations - but his evening ended with him in the high dependency unit at Rotherham General Hospital, and his parents rushing to his aid.

The teenager’s nightmare began while out on West Street with his friend Harry. Although it is not known exactly where the spiking happened, Yiannis remembers the pair ordering drinks at a nightclub and leaving them at the bar unattended while dancing with a group of people. He then went back to the drink before they both moved onto another nightspot to meet some friends. 

At around 4.30am, on Wednesday December 27, the pair were picked up by their friend Calum in his car. Yiannis, who works at Utilita Arena Sheffield, recalls: "By this point, I was still drunk, but was still conscious. I had no reaction to anything. It was only when we got close to my house."

From that point, Yiannis’ story was recounted by his friends.

He continued: "Apparently I was in the back of the car and my eyes just rolled back to my head. I stopped breathing, I wasn't conscious. I couldn’t even sit up straight or talk.

"It was like someone flicked a switch basically. I just turned. It was just a state that I don't think either of them two wanted to see."

Harry’s quick-thinking friends decided to drive straight to Rotherham hospital. Yiannis was taken to the waiting room before collapsing and being rushed to resus. Harry called Yiannis’ parents, Samantha and Nick Revenikiotis, to let them know what had happened.

Yiannis was soon admitted to the high dependency unit. The doctors said that the reaction he had, and his observations, lined up with him being drugged.

Yiannis said: "I don't really remember being in the hospital at first. All I remember is basically being knocked out as soon as I got into resus, and I had all these cables, cannulas and wires attached to me.

"I woke up about 12 hours later. My mum and dad were there, and they told me everything that had happened. They were really scared."

The following day, Yiannis was taken out of the HDU and put on a normal ward, before being discharged the following day - more than 60 hours after admission. He spent the following days recovering at home.

He said he’s been left feeling 'frustrated' at those that spiked his drink.

He said: "I guarantee that I'm not going to be the last person that they do it to - there's no reason for them to be doing it. They’re not going to see any effects or the consequences of it, I don’t know what they were achieving. 

"I never really drink because I need to stay fit because I referee a lot of football at quite a good level. It was just that I’d got this break over Christmas and me and my friend thought we would go out and enjoy ourselves for a bit."

The teenager hopes his traumatic incident will prevent others from leaving their drinks unattended.

South Yorkshire Police is aware of the incident.