The promoters of Defqon.1, the West Sydney dance festival held over the weekend which experienced one fatality, 14 hospitalised, and 84 arrests related to drugs, have spoken out over the death of James Munro.
The 23-year-old Victorian man was one of 18,000 festival-goers at the event, travelling from Bayswater with two friends, but was discovered barely conscious and abandoned after taking “three pills”, according to Police reports.
He was taken to the festival’s medical tent and started having seizures just before midday before he was rushed to Nepean Hospital where he suffered several cardiac episodes before doctors pronounced Munro dead shortly after 10.30pm.
Q-Dance Australia, the promoters of the self-described “hardcore dance” festival, had previously told media they were “deeply saddened” by Munro’s death, but have now issued an official statement on the incident, in what will be their first and last comment on the matter.
Last Saturday at Defqon.1 Festival, a patron known as James Munro died following the event in Penrith. We are deeply saddened by the tragedy. Our sincere sympathies go to James’ family and friends. James collapsed at our festival and after receiving care from a specialised team of medics, he was transported by ambulance to Nepean Hospital where he later died. We are working closely with the NSW Police and authorities and giving them our full support in their investigations. Respecting the privacy of the family, we will not make any further statements.”
Q-Dance Australia had previously stated that did their best to ensure a safe environment at Defqon.1, held at the International Regatta Centre in Penrith, with a 100+ lineup of electronic artists and DJs performing across several stages. The promoters note there was high security and extra paramedics rostered for the event as part of their medical plan, which was reviewed and approved by NSW Health.
Additionally, the promoters’ zero-tolerance drug policy was printed on the back of every ticket to the festival, along with a notice of a strong police presence.
Q-Dance Australia had previously cancelled a 2008 event held on the banks of Victoria’s Yarra river due to mass overdoses, but an on-site paramedic described the drug overdoses as one of the worst he’d seen in his 27 year career. “I’ve been to over 50 music festivals and they have never been like this,” said intensive care paramedic Inspector John Brotherhood, who dealt directly with Mr Munro when he was admitted to the medical tent, which the attendant described in nightmarish detail.Punters were overdosing on drugs from “every letter in the alphabet.”
“The overdoses were a lot more intense and a lot more severe in their presentation than we have had in recent years,” said Brotherhood, adding that punters were overdosing on drugs from “every letter in the alphabet,” including MDMA, LSD, GHB, and ecstasy; refuting claims by Police investigators that it was one “bad batch” of pills being sold that was responsible for the 14 reported overdoses at the event.
As for James Munro, Police are still waiting on a toxicology report from the coroner to determine the exact cause of the 23-year-old’s death, but given that Munro was sent to the medical tent shortly after the gates opened to Defqon.1, there has been speculation that he may have swallowed the three pills in panic at the gates of being caught and charged by officers (a similarly tragic scenario that befell the 17-year-old Gemma Thoms at the Perth Big Day Out festival in 2009).
Over 100 police offers with sniffer dogs were present at Defqon.1, conducting an operation that led to 84 arrests for possession. NSW Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham admits that seeing a police force may spook some festival-goers to ingest all their drugs at once that risk a criminal charge, but said police cannot be held responsible for doing their job.
“People have to be responsible for their own actions,” says the Drug Squad chief. “You can’t blame the police for going out an policing a venue for trying to stop people from taking these substances. If they go, if they’re willing to as you say stuff these pills down their throat before they even go into the venue, that’s hardly the police’s fault.”
