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BREAKING: Aussie father-of-3 dies after ‘being dared to eat a GECKO’

He died in ‘absolute agony’ - by Amy Sinclair
  • 02 Jul 2019

For months, the family of Queensland father-of-three David Dowell has been searching for answers surrounding his shock death from salmonella poisoning in December. 

But while David’s family initially thought he’d fallen ill after eating contaminated chicken, new claims reveal that a sinister party game could be to blame.

BREAKING: Aussie father-of-3 dies after ‘being dared to eat a GECKO’

David’s sister Hannah has told The Sydney Morning Herald that they’ve recently learnt that he’d been dared to eat a gecko at a Christmas party just two days before being rushed to hospital with severe gastro. 

Hannah said they learned of the new development after her brother’s partner Allira spoke to a friend of David’s who said ‘Oh, David ate a gecko that night I’m pretty sure.’

gecko
Image: Getty

‘She [David's partner] told the doctor and the doctor said 'that could have been it'," Hannah told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘But there has been no evidence that he actually ate it because there was: “Oh yeah I saw him eat it.” And then: “No, I didn’t see him eat it.”

‘It was a dare, so he might have intended to eat it and then thrown it away.

‘At the end of the day, we don’t know whether he actually ate the gecko. David never mentioned it.’

University of Queensland school of agriculture and food sciences deputy head Mark Turner told The Sydney Morning Herald that eating a gecko could be dangerous. 

‘It’s possible that if the gecko was eaten, as it was being digested, the salmonella was released, but I have never heard of anything like this before,’ he told the newspaper.

David’s family say he died in ‘absolute agony’ just 11 days after attending the Christmas party, saying he’d ‘basically rotted from the inside out.’

Says Hannah: ‘He was one of a kind ... just a great person and the kids have lost one of the best dads ever.’

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Amy Sinclair
Amy Sinclair
Amy Sinclair is a contibutor for New Idea Food.

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