Joseph Pham’s dad calls for Listen Out festival to be cancelled this weekend
DAYS after burying his son, the shattered father of a young reveller who died from a suspected overdose at the Defqon. 1 dance party has made an emotional plea for a similar festival tomorrow to be called off.
NSW
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DAYS after burying his son, the shattered father of a young reveller who died from a suspected overdose at the Defqon. 1 dance party has made an emotional plea for a similar festival tomorrow to be called off.
As police get set for a massive operation at the Listen Out festival at Centennial Park, Cong Pham — whose son Joseph, 23, collapsed and died at the Penrith event on September 15 — urged organisers not to open the gates.
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“Unless you lock down big raves and festivals like an airport, crowd control doesn’t work,” the grieving father said. “I don’t want this weekend’s Listen Out festival to go ahead, please stop it.”
Mr Pham said he had not yet been told by the coroner how his son had died.
“We buried him on Saturday, I don’t want to pick up a newspaper at the weekend and read another young person has died at a festival,” the Edensor Park dad said.
“We will never be the same again. My wife is in so much pain. It’s time to stop Defqon and big festivals — they’re magnets to drug dealers.”
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Yesterday NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller warned a “strong presence” of police and drug-detection dogs would patrol Listen Out, expected to draw crowds of up to 35,000.
“Anyone thinking of taking drugs, consider this — you wouldn’t drink backyard chemicals, why would you swallow them in pill form?” Mr Fuller said.
“We make no apologies for cracking down on drug use and supply at these events.”
The Daily Telegraph understands more than 260 police and a dozen sniffer dogs patrolled Defqon. 1, attended by 30,000 revellers on September 15. Joseph Pham and Melbourne woman Diana Nguyen collapsed and died from suspected overdoses at the party at Sydney International Regatta Centre.
Ten people were arrested and charged with drug supply.
Among them was Vietnamese student Dang Khoa Phan, who on Tuesday pleaded guilty at Penrith Local Court to supplying a commercial quantity of drugs. He will be sentenced on November 16.