The ceremonial leader of a spiritual retreat in northern New South Wales at which a man died after drinking ayahuasca may have told witnesses not to talk about the fatal ceremony, a coroner has heard.
The second sitting of the inquest into the death of Jarrad Antonovich – who died after drinking the plant-based psychedelic and having the frog toxin extract “kambo” dabbed into burns in his skin – held its second hearing on Friday.
Among the witnesses who appeared on day two was Elissa McAuliffe, a director of Arcoora – the venue near Kyogle at which the retreat was held. McAuliffe also participated in the ayahuasca ceremony led by Soulore “Lore” Solaris during which Antonovich died on the night of 16 October 2021.
McAuliffe told the inquest there had been a gathering of participants at the retreat the day after the 46-year-old died.
“The gathering was singing, primarily, because Jarrad had passed away, so it was prayers and, yeah, Lore may have mentioned something about, I think he was concerned about gossip and things in the community, so he may have suggested that people just, you know, don’t talk about it,” she said.
Asked by counsel assisting the crown, Peggy Dwyer SC, if Solaris gave any advice about not talking to the police, McAuliffe said: “Not that I recall, no.”
Another participant at the retreat told police that a “guardian” – as members of Solaris’s inner circle were known – did instruct those gathered in the hours after Antonovich’s death not to speak with authorities.
Dwyer read Garth Brewin’s police statement given in November 2023 to the Byron Bay court on Friday while he appeared via video link.
“She [the guardian] said: ‘The police and the ambulance are coming, but we should keep this to ourselves, because otherwise it might damage the community or damage the good work we’re doing here so, you know, leave it to us, we will talk to the authorities and you guys just look after yourselves with the medicine’,” Brewin’s statement said.
“I’m pretty sure that Lore also said something along those lines,” the statement continued. “I can’t remember if he used the words ‘family’ or ‘community’ – I think it might have been family – but ‘let’s, you know, protect our family, we don’t want to damage this good work of ayahuasca with being here’.”
Solaris’s barrister, Alex Radojev, also appearing via video link, contended his client never said that.
Earlier, Brewin had testified that he was trying to help Antonovich breathe in the hours after he had taken part in a kambo ceremony but prior to him drinking ayahuasca. Extremely concerned by Antonovich’s restricted breathing – which he demonstrated for the court in a chilling reenactment – Brewin said he was “on the verge of calling an ambulance”.
“I would have basically forced him to have medical attention,” Brewin told the coroner.
However, he did not do so after seeing Solaris speak to Antonovich and hearing the ceremonial leader suggest he just have a “little cup” of ayahuasca, his police statement attested.
Other witnesses confessed to a reluctance in talking to police about the circumstances of Antonovich’s death – given the consumption of ayahuasca had been illegal for some time and “kambo” banned by the Therapeutic Goods Administration days prior.
Several witnesses at Friday’s hearing responded to claims heard at the first sitting of the inquest that another participant was pressured to keep quiet about Antonovich’s death.
Bella Gardner told the inquest last May that a member of Solaris’s inner circle and ceremonial guardian, Pedro Cruz-Rodriguez, had told her to “be quiet” and that “we are not going to speak of this ever again” when she raised her concerns about Antonovich’s death a month after the fatal retreat.
In response to Dwyer’s questions on Friday, the Brazilian man, appearing via video link, denied using those words. He accepted the pair “probably” discussed Antonovich the night Gardner stayed at his house, given how recent and raw his death was, but that he could not recall the conversation.
“No, I don’t remember. I remember conversations that another group came to talk to me about her going to an ayahuasca ceremony two weeks after [Antonovich’s] passing and she went into this group and start[ed] telling everyone about what happened and how he died and why he died,” Cruz-Rodriguez said.
“Which is a lie because we are still trying to understand how he passed.”
The coroner has heard from medical experts that Antonovich died from a perforated oesophagus. The inquest continues.
