Investigations are underway into two deaths in the Northern Rivers following ceremonies using the ‘natural therapies’ kambo and ayahuasca.
NSW State Coroner, Teresa O’Sullivan, is presiding over hearings into the death of Natasha Lechner, 39, who died at a home in Mullumbimby on March 8, 2019 following a kambo ceremony.
Additionally, evidence has been tabled at the Lismore courthouse around the death of Jarrad Antonovich, 46, near Kyogle.
Kambo and ayahuasca are South American traditional medicines used in purging or cleansing rituals.
Ayahuasca is commonly made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, and when drunk, produces psychoactive states of consciousness.
During a kambo ceremony, secretions are obtained under duress from the frog Phyllomedusa bicolor, and are applied via burns into the skin.
According to www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au, ‘There is a risk of serious adverse reactions, especially if kambo enters the bloodstream’.
Pathologist, Dr Lorraine du Toit-Prinsloo, prepared Natasha’s report and attended court online from Newcastle, and told the court it was the first case she had encountered.
The court heard that Natasha, who was an experienced kambo practitioner, went into cardiac arrest during the ceremony.
There was ‘No evidence of pre-existing heart conditions for Natasha’, Dr du Toit-Prinsloo said.
‘On the balance of probabilities, she said that it was ‘Likely [kambo] had a causal relationship’ to Natasha’s death’.
The position was supported by cardiologist, Dr Mark Adams.
Natasha’s father, Frank, addressed the courts, and said she was ‘an old soul in a young body’.
‘At 11 years, she showed wisdom in her poetry’ and had an ‘interest in story telling and spirituality’.
He also said his daughter was ‘not a risk taker’.
Frank said it wasn’t made apparent to participants that you could die from kambo, and it ‘should have been emphasised’.
He added that he was ‘glad to see kambo has been made illegal’, yet said it was ‘difficult to police’, and that he was disappointed first-aid wasn’t administered at the time on Natasha.
Frank became upset when describing Natasha as a ‘generous, caring and soulful individual’.
‘You never get over it’, he said in tears.
The inquiries continue at the Lismore Courthouse.
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