Durban dentist pays the price for his ‘wonder cure’ ibogaine

Milos Martinovic took a psychedelic drug to cure his addiction.

It was his last trip – but the “doctor” up for his death in an unlicensed rehab centre was on Thursday found guilty of culpable homicide, little comfort for the then fiancée of the Austrian father of her baby.

Dentist administered a lethal dose

KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban Judge Rashid Vahed found dentist Anwar Jeewa guilty of culpable homicide, ruling he negligently caused the death of Martinovic, who died two days after checking into Jeewa’s unregistered Durban detox centre and being administered a lethal dose of the controversial ibogaine drug.

Fiancée Brooke Rombough has little faith the man who caused the death of her then 26-year-old lover will spend a day in jail, with the sentencing hearing set for 12 September.

“There is talk of just a fine. What is wrong with the South African law system?” Rombough, who spent hundreds of thousands in her seven-year quest for justice, said from Canada.

Addicted to an antidepressant after his mom’s death, Martinovic believed in Jeewa, advocating a “cold turkey” for drug addicts on platforms around the world with his “wonder cure” ibogaine.

Martinovic forked out R32 000 and booked into Jeewa’s Westville “drug rehab centre” Mindsalive Wellness Centre.

But what he didn’t know was that his “doctor” was only a dentist, now found also guilty of manufacturing and peddling an unscheduled drug and guilty of running an unregistered treatment centre that was shut down by the department of health a year before Martinovic set foot in it in 2017.

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The case goes to trial

During the trial, Jeewa’s chase for the big bucks was exposed through records produced after raids lead by Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Booysen from the Hawks.

Illicit drugs like heroin, tik and ibogaine were confiscated. Police also found 110 signed prescriptions belonging to a doctor Danka.

Danka, a former customer at Mindsalive, told the court he left his book of signed prescriptions with Jeewa for him to “complete”.

When asked why, Danka said: “I know it was wrong. I am sorry”.

The money trail includes Jeewa’s double-storey “rehab” admitting five to six patients weekly from about R12 000 each.

Evidence also showed him profiteering to a monthly tune of R27 000 for supplying a rehabilitation centre in Magaliesburg that had at least one recorded death after being treated with ibogaine in 2017.

Jeewa, who is out on bail, was ordered by the court to present himself three times a week at a police station until the sentencing on 12 September.

He still operates as a dentist at the Westbrook Shopping Centre in Westville.

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What is ibogaine?

• Ibogaine, derived from the root of an African plant, is known to exhibit psychedelic effects in its users. It is the primary alkaloid in a root bark named iboga.

Though iboga has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples in Gabon, ibogaine surfaced in 1901, after scientists isolated the alkaloid from its parent plant.

From the 1930s, ibogaine was used as a component of a drug marketed as a stimulant and antidepressant.

It became popular among athletes after World War II as a performance-enhancing drug – later banned.

The psychedelic effect is so intense it is known as “the Mount Everest of psychedelics”.