Jarrad Antonovich,46,had taken “kambo” frog toxin and the powerful psychedelic ayahuasca during the week-long Dreaming Arts Festival at Collins Creek,north of Kyogle,on October 16,2021.
Jarrad Antonovich,46,has been remembered as a “very friendly,beautiful man”.Facebook
An inquest scrutinising Antonovich’s death has heard that he died from a perforated oesophagus,likely caused by the excessive vomiting,or attempts to vomit,which can follow kambo and ayahuasca ceremonies.
Kambo is harvested by scraping the skin of an Amazonian giant tree frog,Phyllomedusa bicolor,and is often used as traditional medicine in cleansing rituals in South America. In a kambo ceremony,a person’s skin on their arm or leg is burnt before the substance is dabbed on the open wounds.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration banned the use of kambo in Australia on October 1,2021 – about two weeks before Antonovich’s death – on the grounds it posed a danger to human health.
The active ingredient in the plant brew ayahuasca,dimethyltryptamine,is also banned in Australia.
On Thursday,counsellor and psychotherapist Dominique Vollaers told the inquest she had met Antonovich – whom she remembered as a “very friendly,beautiful man” – once before when she saw him at a kambo ceremony at the retreat,where she had been invited to “support and guide people”.
Vollaers said Antonovich was among participants who were seated in a line for the morning ceremony. Once the kambo was administered to people,she would “come and work on their feet,check they were OK and work on their energy,grounding them”.
She said most people had started to vomit within minutes of the kambo being applied. She grew concerned when she reached Antonovich and noticed he hadn’t vomited and appeared to be unwell.
He told her he had asthma and asked for a puffer but said he hadn’t told the ceremony practitioner. Vollaers said that “disturbed” her as participants typically raised pre-existing medical conditions.
She had stayed close to Antonovich until he asked her “for space” because he still felt unwell.
“There was a point where I went,‘I don’t feel good about this.’ It had gone on for too long. He was sitting for too long,and there had been no purging. And he was in pain,his lower back was hurting.
“It was prolonged,and at times he was sitting with his head in his hands and[groaning].”
Vollaers eventually suggested he go to hospital,but Antonovich was “adamant” he would not go. She offered the same suggestion to an elder at the retreat,but he had responded,“No,no hospital.”
The inquest heard a group of people at the retreat later helped move Antonovich to an outdoor deck. At an ayahuasca ceremony that afternoon,hours after the kambo ritual,Antonovich went to stand up,and Vollaers heard him fall to the ground.
She said others who rushed towards Antonovich had phoned triple zero and tried to resuscitate him.
“I personally felt he left his body straight away as he fell. I stayed where I was … I was just holding the beauty and holding the calm.”
She hadn’t realised Antonovich’s “extreme pain” throughout the day was due to a torn oesophagus – which she had since learnt was “a rare thing … that has happened with kambo” – as she had “never tuned into his stomach area”.
“I was watching him but staying away from him. I wasn’t invading his energy field.”
Vollaers said she was not aware of anyone at the retreat having first aid training. Asked by counsel assisting the coroner,Peggy Dwyer,whether she had put too much faith in those managing the retreat,she said:“It’s a hard one to answer because I feel what happened to Jarrad is a rare case.”
“My big piece is that I listened to someone else and not my own feelings. I ought to have stayed with my feeling of,‘This doesn’t feel good any more.’ ”
She said,as far as she knew,kambo was legal at the time of the retreat.
The inquest continues in front of State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan.
