Participants at retreat where man died after ayahuasca ceremony allegedly told not to talk, NSW inquest hears

An inquest is looking into the death of Jarrad Antonovich, who died in NSW in 2021 after drinking a psychedelic concoction of the ayahuasca plant and having the frog toxin extract ‘kambo’ dabbed into burns in his skin. Photograph: Graham Turner/The Guardian

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.