The trial of a Durban dentist, charged with murder after a patient died in his detox centre seven years ago, started in the High Court this week, notes MedicalBrief.
Dentist Anwar Mohamed Jeewa pleaded not guilty this week to a murder charge after a patient died in his Westville detox centre in 2017, when he was given controversial ibogaine treatment in the hopes of curing his drug addiction.
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring substance found in certain plants and has been touted as a miracle cure for drug addiction.
Jeewa appeared in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court (Durban) for the start of his trial on Monday. He also pleaded not guilty to unlawfully manufacturing, compounding, selling, dispensing and exporting the Schedule 6 substance, and for running an unregistered treatment centre.
The Daily News reports that Canadian patient Milos Martinovic travelled to South Africa and had sought treatment at Jeewa’s Minds Alive Rehabilitation Clinic in November 2017, believing Jeewa could cure him from his addiction to Xanax – a benzodiazepine that acts as a depressant on the central nervous system – after the death of his mother from cancer.
When Martinovic arrived at Minds Alive he was in possession of an unknown number of OxyContini tablets and several boxes of Xanax which the state alleges Jeewa allowed him to keep.
It is alleged that Jeewa instructed Martinovic to continue taking the tablets he had allowed him to keep to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Martinovic was admitted to the facility in November 2017 and on the night of 7 November, he was given three to four separate doses of ibogaine capsules by a nurse, Zamokwakhe Hlongwane, allegedly on the instruction of Jeewa.
Senior state advocate Nadira Moosa said the state would prove that the accused did this knowing Xanax was a benzodiazepine and that ibogaine was contra-indicated for the treatment of addiction to benzodiazepines, and that the chances of fatality increased when benzodiazepines or opiates are taken together with other substances.
At some point after Martinovic was given the last dose of ibogaine, he went into cardiac arrest and the only person on duty at Minds Alive was Hlongwane, who delayed calling for assistance.
“There was no medical practitioner on site or on call on the day in question. There was inadequate resuscitation equipment, infrastructure and competent professional nursing staff on-site. The enrolled nurse had no adequate requisite to deal with an emergency,” said Moosa.
When Jeewa allegedly arrived after being called by Hlongwane, he failed to undertake a proper resuscitation of the deceased as required.
Martinovic’s post-mortem report revealed that the cause of death was an overdose of Xanax, and ibogaine was detected in his blood.
TimesLIVE reports that one of the first witnesses to testify will be Martinovic's fiancée and the mother of his child, who will give evidence about his state of mind, his desperation to rid himself of his addiction and his belief in Jeewa.
The state alleges Jeewa had advertised himself as a specialist with extensive knowledge in ibogaine therapy for drug addiction. He attended several conferences on the use of ibogaine, some as guest speaker, where he was advised, and he himself advised others, that ibogaine should not be used to treat an addiction to benzodiazepines.
While Jeewa had a permit issued under the Agricultural Pests Act to import Tabernanthe iboga from Gabon, he is alleged to have used this plant material to manufacture ibogaine without a licence to do so, and also dispensed, sold and exported it illegally.
Martinovic had learnt about Minds Alive through its website and contacted Jeewa, whom he believed to be a medical doctor, with a view to undergoing ibogaine therapy for his addiction.
The state said Jeewa subjectively foresaw the possibility that administering ibogaine to Martinovic, who had already ingested an unqualified dose of alprazolam, would bring about his death, and Jeewa “reconciled himself to this possibility and was reckless to the outcome” and therefore guilty of murder.
Jeewa was initially charged with culpable homicide along with the nurse, Zamokwakhe Hlongwane. However, the charges were withdrawn against Hlongwane, who is now listed as a witness in the matter.
It was previously reported that the family was unhappy that the charges against her had been withdrawn, believing this could result in Jeewa’s acquittal because Hlongwane was the only person in the room and had administered the ibogaine.
Evidence in the trial will be presented by the Health Professions Council of South Africa, the Department of Social Development and the Department of Health.
Video footage from Minds Alive would also be presented, as would audio recordings of conversations between Jeewa and others “in which he made several admissions”.
Emails and letters show that Jeewa had knowledge ibogaine should not be used for benzodiazepine addiction, while excerpts of a YouTube video, dated July 2017, will be shown in which Jeewa, at a conference in Vienna, portrays himself as an expert in ibogaine therapy.
In that video he claims he was addicted to drugs for 17 years, “thrown into mental institutions” and, thanks to ibogaine, was “clean for 20 years”.
He said his five-day programme was not a cure but an “addiction interrupter”.
The trial is due to run until the end of May.
Daily News – Minds Alive dentist on trial over rehab death
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Durban dentist charged with culpable homicide
State has until September to finalise culpable homicide case against Durban dentist