Inquest hears Natasha Lechner died within minutes after frog poison ceremony

A Mullumbimby woman died shortly after frog toxin was applied to burn lesions on her body as part of a “natural cleansing therapy”. The tragedy is now the subject of a coronial inquest underway at Lismore.

Natasha Lechner passed away after taking part in a cleansing ceremony using kambo.

A coronial inquest is underway to investigate whether an alternate therapeutic method using frog poison was the cause of the sudden death of a Northern Rivers woman.

Natasha Lechner, 39, had sought alternative natural therapies to expunge chronic back pain after two decades of working as a hairdresser, her twin brother Christian Lechner told the inquest at Lismore.

The court heard Ms Lechner took part in a ‘kambo ceremony’ with Victoria Sinclair at her home in Mullumbimby on March 8, 2019.

Natasha Lechner passed away after taking part in a cleansing ceremony using kambo, a natural medicine extracted from a rainforest frog. She is pictured here with her twin brother Christian Lechner.

Promoted as a spiritual and emotional cleanse, kambo is said to leave users purging toxins via severe vomiting.

Self-described “educator and holistic practitioner”, Ms Sinclair was the only other participant in the ceremony.

The court heard the women knew each other over a period of five years, with Ms Sinclair treating Ms Lechner during that time with no ill effect.

Ms Lechner had completed her training in administering kambo and was leading the ceremony on the day of her death, the court heard.

Ms Sinclair told the court Ms Lechner had “quite a high threshold for the medicine”.

A post-mortem examination showed Ms Lechner had over 60 burn lesions on her body where the frog toxin was administered.

Ms Sinclair said that “didn’t sound like an outlandish amount”.

Phyllomedusa bicolor, kambo frog.

On the day of Ms Lechner’s death, the inquest heard the two women applied burns to one another with an incense candle then applied the frog poison to those sites.

Ms Lechner then “felt faint quite quickly” and laid down in a “semi-recovery position”.

“Then she sat up and grabbed my arm and just looked at me and said: ‘It’s not good’. She then fainted sitting up,” Ms Sinclair said.

Ms Sinclair observed the woman’s lips turn blue, her hands twitching, and her breathing become laboured.

The inquest heard Ms Sinclair had no phone and did not know the number for emergency services.

Ms Sinclair applied CPR and emergency services were called when a flatmate returned home. While paramedics arrived within five minutes, Ms Lechner could not be revived.

Natasha Lechner passed away after taking part in a cleansing ceremony using kambo, a natural medicine extracted from a rainforest frog.

Darren Roberts, the NSW Poisons Information Centre medical director, told the inquest Ms Lechner was “very much engaged and focused on her health”.

The expert toxicologist said Ms Lechner had no evidence of heart disease.

She sought the therapy as a complementary option to conventional medicine.

The court heard the most likely cause of her death was an acute cardiac event.

Mr Roberts said it was likely kambo played a role in Ms Lechner’s death.

The use and supply of kambo was legal at the time of Ms Lechner’s passing in 2019, but since 2021 the substance has been banned in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Natasha Lechner passed away after taking part in a cleansing ceremony using kambo, a natural medicine extracted from a rainforest frog.

Mr Lechner said his sister was “kind, strong and sincere” and “the best sister I could have hoped for”.

“She was a hairdresser for 20 years and had sciatica and crushed vertebrae and often cried in pain and she needed back surgery and high doses of pain killers,” he said.

“I think she went on a path and began to search for more biologically friendly medicines.”

Mr Lechner did not want to speculate on how she died but said it was “her ritual administration and a conscious decision”.

The inquest continues.