Participants in an ayahuasca ceremony at a six-day retreat were instructed by so-called “guardians” to keep their eyes fixed towards the shaman conducting the ritual and away from the man dying metres away from them, a coroner has heard.
The fourth day of the inquest into the death of Jarrad Antonovich, being held in Lismore, heard from several participants in the ceremony at the Dreaming arts festival near Kyogle, in northern New South Wales, on 16 October 2021.
Among them was a Byron Bay dentist, Marcus O’Meara, who spoke of a group of people called the guardians who were inside the “gonpa” – or temple – in which the ceremony was being held and were tasked with “keeping an eye on everybody”.
In the centre of the gonpa was the man who was presiding over the festival and the evening, a self-described clairvoyant and convener of sacred music ceremonies, Soulore “Lore” Solaris, the inquest heard.
The inquest has heard Antonovich died after consuming ayahuasca – made from Amazonian plants – and being administered “kambo” frog toxins during the retreat.
O’Meara told the inquest that he and a friend who had accompanied him that evening were advised by the guardians to keep facing the music, despite hearing the laboured breathing of a visibly unwell Antonovich, who was metres behind them, in the silence between each song.
“At one stage when we were turning around a guardian stood between us and told us to turn around and focus on the music,” O’Meara said on Thursday.
O’Meara told the inquest he turned back, after drifting in and out of sleep while feeling the effects of the hallucinogenic brew he had drunk, because he suddenly realised the sound of laboured breathing had stopped. When he did, he saw two people attempting CPR on Antonovich.
Another participant, Robert Slabihoudek, described the group O’Meara referred to as guardians as “helpers”.
He told the inquest that the helpers would exchange buckets after people vomited, fetch tissues and do “whatever was needed”, including guarding the door.
Asked during the hearing why the helpers would need to guard the door, Slabihoudek said it was to “be aware of where everyone is at”.
As well as keeping tabs on people’s physical location, those conducting the ceremony were aware for several hours of Antonovich’s distress and declining health, the inquest heard.
O’Meara said that when he first laid eyes on Antonovich upon entering the gonpa, it was immediately apparent that he was not well.
But others appeared to be taking care of the stricken man and no one advised him of Antonovich’s state, so the dentist did not intervene.
He told the inquest that, by the time he was aware just how serious the situation, it was too late – Antonovich was dead. O’Meara, having drunk the ayahuasca, said he was “not in a state of mind to be able to help”.
O’Meara is trained in CPR, airway management and intubation, the inquest heard. When asked the counsel assisting the inquest, Peggy Dwyer, if he would have offered assistance had he not consumed ayahuasca, he replied: “Absolutely”.
Dwyer later asked if he would have suggested someone call an ambulance if O’Meara had been told that Antonovich’s neck swelled to almost the same size as his jawline for some hours, was having difficulty breathing and complaining of severe lower back pain.
“If someone had told me the condition had arisen on that day and it wasn’t a pre-existing thing, definitely,” O’Meara replied.
The inquest heard that these were symptoms described by other attenders.
James Mackney told the inquest he saw Antonovich participate in a Kambo ceremony at around 10am that morning.
Immediately after receiving nine doses of Kambo, Antonovich appeared to be in trouble in a way the others weren’t, Mackney said.
Mackney then described seeing Antonovich – who he knew as “Ish” – at around 6pm in an even worse condition.
“I was looking at Ish thinking: ‘what the fuck, you look like a frog’,” he said. “It was like: holy shit his head and his neck was blown up, swollen … I said to someone, ‘he needs an ambulance’.”
The inquest heard that an ambulance was not called until after 11.30pm. By the time paramedics arrived, Antonovich was dead.
The inquest continues.
