‘Guardian’ at spiritual retreat told not to send man affected by frog toxin to hospital, NSW inquest hears

Psychotherapist tells inquest she was told ‘no hospital’ after expressing concern for Jarrad Antonovich, who died later that night

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A man who died after taking a cocktail of alternative “medicines” at a spiritual retreat in northern New South Wales was not taken to hospital because the “energy workers” charged with his care failed to detect the fatal tear in his esophagus, a coroner has heard.

The inquest into the death of Jarrad Antonovich resumed in Byron Bay on Thursday, nine months after it was adjourned to gather more eyewitness accounts of the events of 16 October 2021. It was then that the 46-year-old died at a six-day retreat near Kyogle in the hours after he was administered a frog toxin known as “kambo” and ayahuasca – made from Amazonian plants – by self-styled “medicine” men.

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