Defqon1 dance music festival fatalities bring drug overdose deaths to four in five years
A DANCE music festival with an appalling record of drug deaths and injury has taken another two young lives and left three more fighting for theirs — leaving justice campaigners questioning why it was still being allowed to run in NSW. Joseph Pham, 23, is one of the fatalities from Saturday night’s Defqon. 1 in Penrith.
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Joseph Pham for months had been posting excitedly on social media about the Sydney music festival where he went into cardiac arrest and died from a suspected drug overdose at the weekend.
The 23-year-old from Edensor Park was one of three revellers at the Defqon. 1 hard trance festival in Penrith who had heart attacks at the same time. A 21-year-old woman from Victoria also died.
Shocked Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday vowed to shut down the festival — where two people had already died in previous years — with another three young revellers fighting for their lives in hospital.
“I’m absolutely aghast at what’s occurred. I don’t want any family to go through the tragedy that some families are waking up to this morning,” Ms Berejiklian said. “This is an unsafe event and I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure it never happens again.”
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Mr Pham regularly reposted messages on his Facebook page from Sniff Off, which argues against the use of police sniffer dogs.
The last one he shared described the “ridiculous” levels of “anxiety” the use of police dogs put revellers through as they attended Saturday night’s festival.
As many as 700 of the 30,000 revellers at the Sydney International Regatta Centre sought attention from medics, who were responding to multiple reports of suspected drug overdoses.
“It was a very traumatic scene, we had three patients in cardiac arrest simultaneously,” NSW Ambulance liaison officer Katherine Rallings said.
“It is so hard when you lose anybody, particularly young people. This is a senseless waste of life. No party is worth risking your life for.”
Local representatives of Q-Dance, the Netherlands-based organisers of Defqon. 1, said: “We are disappointed at the number of reported drug-related incidents. We have a zero-tolerance policy in relation to drug use at the festival.”
Two other young Australians have died at Defqon events in the past five years.
In September 2015 Nigel Pauljevic, 26, died after being found unconscious in a tent and in 2013 James Munro, 23, died from a suspected ecstasy overdose.
Mr Pauljevic’s father Mita yesterday said that nothing had been learnt since his son’s death.
“There’s so much of it around and the dealers push you to take it so they can make an easy buck,” he said.
“Drugs will never go away, the police should test them on the spot and make sure they’re not full of dangerous substances.”
But young partygoers remain oblivious to the danger, with one tweeting joyfully on Saturday night: “Just saw a video on Facebook of my brother at Defqon with his eyes rolling back in his head. How’s your night going?”
Police conducted 355 drug searches on Saturday night and found 69 people in possession of narcotics, including two 17-year-old girls who were attempting to smuggle 120 capsules into the event inside their bodies. They were among 10 people charged.
But one festival-goer told The Daily Telegraph there were fewer police at the event than previous years.
“In the past you would have to walk past at least 20 police officers with sniffer dogs on your way in,” she said. “This year I only saw three dogs. I wasn’t searched on my way in.”
One of those charged with supplying a prohibited drug, Alexander Naberezhnon, 27, appeared in Penrith Local Court wearing a “Cocaine and Caviar” brand hoodie and was refused bail after claiming he was paid $300 to carry ecstasy pills and mobile phones into the event.
“He is what is commonly described as a mule,” Magistrate Peter Ashton said.
“If someone gets a dud dose and dies then he’s just as complicit as the real supplier.”
Vietnamese international business student Vo Dang Phan, 22, was granted bail on a charge of supplying a commercial quality of drugs after police allegedly caught him with 20 soy sauce bottles filled with the drug GHB worth $1000.
A third man, Douglas Wood, 33, from Mount Pritchard had his case for supplying a prohibited drug adjourned until today after police alleged he was caught carrying 243g of MDMA.
Police have set up Strike Force Highworth to investigate the deaths of Mr Pham and the 21-year-old woman. They said 13 festival-goers had gone to Nepean Hospital for treatment.
A 26-year-old woman remains in a critical condition and a 19-year-old man from Artarmon was airlifted to Westmead Hospital where his condition stabilised. Another 20-year-old man was seriously ill in Liverpool Hospital.
“We never seem to learn,” said drug campaigner Tony Wood, whose 15-year-old daughter Anna died after taking ecstasy at a Sydney dance party in 1995.
“It is absolutely disappointing, I just feel so sorry for the parents of the people who have died. Grief is a constant thing and it never goes away. It’s always just below the surface.”
Additional reporting Clarissa Bye, Derrick Krusche & Sam McBeath
Originally published as Defqon1 dance music festival fatalities bring drug overdose deaths to four in five years
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