WINNIPEG — A 29-year-old Winnipeg man says a confrontation at a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon left him with no choice but to kill or be killed.
Joshua Stevens tells CTV Winnipeg he had gone to the Phoenix Ayahuasca retreat near the town of Iquitos in December looking for relief from a skin condition that caused his hair to fall out in circular patches and left his arm covered in a rash.
But he says when he and British tourist Unais Gomes, 25, drank a hallucinogenic brew things quickly went wrong.
He says Gomes attacked him and two workers at the retreat with a large butcher knife.
He says he was forced to make a life-or-death decision, and stabbed Gomes twice, killing him.
Stevens says the matter is still under investigation and if authorities decide to proceed with charges, he will have to return to Peru.
The hallucinogenic cocktail ayahuasca, also known as yage, has been venerated for centuries by indigenous tribes in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia as a cure for all sorts of ailments.
But it's also increasingly consumed by Western tourists looking for mind-altering experiences.
The two men were guests at the retreat owned by a sister and brother team from Australia. It describes itself on its website as "a safe and supportive place to experience plant medicines and explore the true nature of the self."
Stevens, who is now back in Winnipeg, says Gomes took a double-dose of the drink.
He says suddenly he could hear Gomes screaming at the top of his lungs and came out to see what was wrong.
"It's time to get your demons out, brother," Stevens says Gomes told him before attacking him.
Stevens says he tried to run for help and the pair ended up in the kitchen area where Gomes grabbed a knife and he grabbed a steel pot.
"He swiped at me and he hit the table and his knife broke. I went to hit him with the pot and I hit him in the side of the body and my pot broke. When that happened, that's when he picked up this big butcher knife."
He says as they fought over the knife, two workers from the retreat came in and tried to grab Gomes, who then went after them.
"That's when I made the decision to stab him," says Stevens, who says the incident has left him with a deep feeling of sadness.
"I really thought I was going to die. I was saying to myself, 'if he gets this knife back, he's either going to kill me or the other two men here.' "
Stevens was arrested and held 24 hours before being released.
Local police chief Normando Marquez has said witnesses described a fight breaking out between Gomes and Stevens during which a knife was pulled against the Canadian. The British newspaper The Guardian has previously reported police concluded that Stevens acted in self-defence.
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