The housemate of a woman who died following a kambo ritual using frog poison in Mullumbimby has broken down in tears while giving evidence at a coronial inquiry today.
The inquest has heard the most likely cause of Natasha Lechner's death in 2019 was an acute cardiac event, despite a post-mortem examination finding no signs of heart disease.
Kambo is a poison from the Amazonian giant tree frog used in purging rituals, during which devotees make small dot-like burns on their skin before applying the liquid, inducing severe vomiting.
Ms Lechner, 39, fainted just moments after the poison was applied to five small burns on her chest and arm.
Her housemate, Kelly-Anne Green, today wept as she recalled the sight that confronted her when she arrived home about 10 minutes later.
"She was foaming and there was a lot of liquid coming out of her mouth," she said.
"I went into action mode and kept doing compressions.
"I rang the ambulance and had them on speaker, they guided me through the CPR."
Delayed call for ambulance
A woman who was with Ms Lechner during the ceremony gave evidence earlier this week.
Victoria Sinclair told the court she decided to do CPR rather than call for help when it became apparent her friend was seriously unwell.
The inquest heard the Irish woman did not have her mobile phone at the time, and thought she would need to look up an emergency services number, as she was unaware of the triple-0 line.
When asked if that resulted in an unfortunate delay to an ambulance being called she replied, "I guess so".
"Everything happened very quickly," she said.
"I believe I acted as quickly and coherently as I could."
The court heard an ambulance arrived at the scene about five minutes after it was called.
Ms Sinclair told the court yesterday that although she was a qualified kambo practitioner, her friend was in control of the ceremony and decided "where and how much" kambo poison would be applied.
Risk of death
Today the court heard evidence from Aisha Priya, also known as Sarah-Jane Morrison, who trained Ms Lechner as a kambo practitioner just two months before her death.
She said there was an acknowledged risk that the practice could cause death "usually because the practitioner is taking too long to call an ambulance".
"There is a risk of fainting and of course, like with everything, there is a risk of death," she said.
"But in my experience that has only occurred when the rules are not followed."
Ms Priya told the court she was aware of about five kambo-related deaths.
"It does always seem that an ambulance isn't called in time," she said.
Kambo was legal at the time of Ms Lechner's death, but was declared a prohibited substance in NSW in 2021.
A coronial inquest into a second kambo-related death in northern NSW is due to begin in Lismore next week.
