Jarrad Antonovich died of a perforated oesophagus after consuming the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca and frog-based poison kambo at the Dreaming Arts Festival at Arcoora retreat in northern NSW on October 16, 2021.
Lurelle Alefounder on Thursday told an inquest into the 46-year-old's death that retreat leader Soulore Solaris later asked her to visit Mr Antonovich's flatmate and tell him not to reveal to police that an ayahuasca ceremony had taken place.
"I assumed that it was (to protect) the identity of the people at the ceremony," Ms Alefounder said.
"I told him, 'no, I'm not doing that'."
Mr Solaris apologised the next day, she added, and he said he had been trying to protect those involved.
Mr Antonovich complained of back pain and had a swollen neck on the day he died, lying down near a tree after taking the substances, State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan previously heard.
He had drunk a brew made with ayahuasca and had his skin burnt in several places before kambo was rubbed into the wounds.
Mr Antonovich was later taken into a temple on the grounds of the health retreat for an ayahuasca ceremony where he had his feet massaged while still complaining and moaning.
Ms Alefounder, who participated in the ceremony, recalled hearing Mr Antonovich "groaning like he was in intense pain" before he went into cardiac arrest.
She first spoke to Mr Antonovich on the day before he died, when she sat beside the "sweet" man at a separate kambo ceremony.
He said he thought he had drunk too much water too soon before the ceremony, she said.
She urged him to share any doubts with the "shaman", Cameron Kite, who was leading the session.
"If I had been more lucid and less nervous, I would have spoken to (Mr Kite) myself," Ms Alefounder said.
She apologised to Mr Antonovich's family, adding that they likely wanted closure but added there was "a lot of hindsight and grey matter" convoluting the inquest.
In a statement to police, Ms Alefounder said she thought an ambulance should have been called much earlier than it had been.
"Dreaming Arts have a responsibility to their guests to ensure the retreat is run safely," she said in the statement.
The use of ayahuasca and kambo is based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous South American communities, with adherents believing the substances can clean the body of impurities.
Medical experts, however, say there is no proof the substances do more than make people extremely ill.
The inquest continues, with both Mr Solaris and Mr Kite yet to give evidence.
8°C