Lismore’s Jarrad Antonovich in pain for hours after frog toxin ceremony, inquest hears

A Lismore man may have suffered ‘frog face’ in the hours leading up to his death after a kambo ceremony at a Northern NSW retreat, an inquest heard today.

A Coronial inquest at Lismore heard Jarrad Antonovich died as a result of a perforation or tear to his oesophagus, likely caused by vomiting induced by his consumption of ayahuasca and kambo.

A Lismore man who died after frog poison was applied to his body in a purging ceremony was in discomfort for almost 12 hours before an ambulance was called, an inquest heard today.

The coronial inquest into the painful and prolonged death of Jarrad Antonovich has heard the 46-year-old died on October 16, 2021, from a perforation or tear to his oesophagus, likely caused by vomiting induced by his consumption of ayahuasca and the application of kambo (an Amazonian frog toxin).

Yesterday Mr Antonovich’s father Glen accused the organiser of the ritual, Lore Solaris, of being vague on the details of his son’s death at a spiritual retreat at Collins Creek north of Kyogle.

The inquest heard a witness saw Mr Antonovich and a group of people doing kambo around 10am.

She said she saw him staring straight ahead, with a bucket in front of him. His neck was swollen so much it was in line with his jaw – which, she said, “wasn’t normal”.

“He was struggling, moaning and didn’t seem to be getting better,” she said.

About 3.30pm his neck was still swollen and sitting alone, the witness said.

The inquest heard Mr Antonovich had an asthma attack, trouble breathing and later collapsed unconscious.

Toxicologist Associate Professor Darren Roberts said some people refer to this extreme swelling after kambo as ‘frog face’ which was “very concerning”.

He said Mr Antonovich’s horrific facial swelling and loss of consciousness should have set off alarm bells.

“As a doctor, loss of consciousness and swelling of the face is of high concern,” he said.

Assisting counsel Dr Peggy Dwyer asked if a tear to the throat would cause trouble breathing.

“It has the potential to be life threatening,” Dr Roberts said.

“If this is persisting for hours afterwards this is (seriously) concerning.

“The whole picture sounded very disturbing.”

Witness Robert Virgine, who lived nearby and sometimes worked at Arcoora as a handyman, said he heard people on a two-way radio throughout the day from 11am to about midnight, talking about calling an ambulance.

“I knew something was wrong,” Virgine said. “I couldn’t get it out of my head.”

He contacted police a week later.

Paramedics weren’t called until about 11pm, and when they arrived about midnight, Mr Antonovich’s skin had turned blue.

Two men were applying CPR to Mr Antonovich when they arrived, and one woman was “massaging (Jarrad’s) feet and praying”, the inquest heard.

Paramedics performed CPR for 22 minutes before declaring Mr Antonovich dead.

No one told the paramedics what had happened to Mr Antonovich before they arrived – which paramedics testified was “frustrating”.

Both paramedics testified the other participants at the retreat were carrying on with some rhythmical movement about 10 metres away – seemingly oblivious to Mr Antonovich’s state.