A talented young actor tragically died after consuming a mix of drugs while at a dance festival in Costa Rica, an inquest heard. Joseph Wandera, 27, experienced a fatal seizure during his holiday.
Despite efforts to revive him, Joseph passed away in an apartment at the Tamarindo beach resort, where he was attending the BPM music festival in January 2022. His mother, Claire Beatson, expressed her astonishment to Rochdale Coroners’ Court on Tuesday, September 18, upon learning that Joseph had taken ecstasy and confessed to his girlfriend that he had ingested a mysterious drug blend known as “Pink Stuff”.
The day prior to his untimely death, Joseph sent a worrying text to his girlfriend in England, Alison Maloney, claiming he was “getting on it like mad”, according to MEN. On January 16, the morning he died, he messaged his girlfriend saying: “Not gonna lie, I don’t know what was in the f***ing thing that I f***ing took. I can only type with my left hand and now I can’t see out of my left eye.”
He also mentioned that he had been vomiting and hadn’t slept for two days. In a statement to the court, Joseph’s friend Renay Zollner, who first met him in Marbella and enjoyed nights out with him in Manchester, said they “have become friends”.
She was also in Costa Rica for the festival with some of Joe’s friends, the inquest was informed, reports the Mirror.
She remembered that Joseph “looked tired” during the flight but appeared “otherwise healthy”. She mentioned that while she stayed in an apartment, ‘the boys’ lodged in a villa and that Joseph had been consuming MDMA (ecstasy), though she was uncertain about the quantity.
She noted that “everybody” was purchasing it from local dealers.
She stated that she hadn’t seen Joseph consume any alcohol but he did try a drug known as Pink Stuff, a pink powder which she witnessed him “snort”, a “few days” prior to his death. After a night out one week into their holiday, Ms Zollner recalled falling asleep on her apartment’s sofa at 3am on January 16 when she received a WhatsApp message from Joseph requesting her to pick him up.
She agreed and spent 50 minutes driving to a location he had sent her, described as “in the middle of a forest by the coast”. Upon finding him, she noticed bags under his eyes but dismissed this as “normal”.
She added: “All of us were sleep deprived because of all the partying, drinking and drugs”. Ms Zollner mentioned that Joseph was unable to provide her with the location of his villa so she drove back to her apartment where she rejected his proposal to sleep on the sofa and instructed him to sleep on a bed.
She covered him with a blanket, she said.
Ms Zollner recounted that Joseph appeared “not hot or sweaty” before she retired for the night. The following morning, at 7.15am, she was awakened by Fidel, one of the boys who had stayed over, alerting her that Joseph was “fitting on the floor”.
She instructed him to place Joseph in the recovery position.
Shortly after, a distressed Fidel urged her to come downstairs, where she discovered Joseph unresponsive on the floor. Despite detecting faint breathing, Ms Zollner could not find a pulse.
Upon calling the ambulance service, they were instructed to “start CPR”, with Fidel performing chest compressions. However, when paramedics arrived, they concluded “nothing more could be done”.
During the inquest, Ms Beatson, Joseph’s mother, shared that her son grew up in Salford and Prestwich and later pursued performing arts. Post-studies, he worked at JD Sports and Greggs and was represented by an acting agency, also contributing as an administrator.
Ms Beatson told the court about Joseph’s passion for performing arts, noting his appearances in Coronation Street, Scott and Bailey, and Moving On. She described him as a social drinker who enjoyed attending Manchester’s Parklife music festival annually.
Ms Beatson revealed that her son had previously smoked cannabis and “occasionally” dabbled in ecstasy, though she emphasised that drug-taking “wasn’t something that was his usual behaviour”. She confessed to being “shocked” upon discovering what her son had ingested in Costa Rica, stating, “he’s never taken anything like this before”.
Her son, a lover of travel, had journeyed to Thailand with his “acting friends”. Ms Beatson fondly remembered her son as “He was a humorous, kind young man who enjoyed entertaining people and loved life.”
She recounted learning about her son’s two-week holiday to Costa Rica, which he embarked on from London Heathrow on January 10, 2022. During his trip, he kept in touch by sending her photos and a few text messages.
The last message she received, dated the afternoon of January 15, conveyed that he was at a party and “having a good time”. The tragic news of her son’s passing was delivered by his girlfriend, as informed to the court.
The inquest delved into a past incident where Joseph suffered a brutal assault in Manchester city centre at 1am on December 16, 2019, resulting in an attack by “a group of unknown people”. He was admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary with broken vertebrae in his back, lacerations requiring staples, and extensive bruising.
Joseph was released from the hospital 11 days after an assault, but it took him 18 days to report the incident to the police, resulting in detectives being unable to find any CCTV footage due to the delay, as revealed at the inquest. His mother, Ms Beatson, shared with the inquest that her son had sought treatment from a private physiotherapist after the attack and experienced “tingling” down one arm.
Forensic pathologist Dr Charles Wilson performed a post-mortem examination on Joseph’s partially embalmed remains when they were returned from Costa Rica, where an initial post-mortem had been conducted. Dr Wilson identified a spinal fracture but deemed it “unlikely this would have caused or contributed to the death”.
Dr Wilson faced limitations due to insufficient material for a UK toxicology report and had to depend on a “fairly scant” toxicological analysis from Costa Rica, which detected ketamine and MDMA (ecstasy) in Joseph’s blood but did not specify the drug concentrations.
The pathologist noted that the combined effects of these drugs “can be more profound”. Detective Inspector Mark Astbury disclosed that he could not locate one of Joseph’s friends who accompanied him on the trip, while another had since “passed” away.
Nonetheless, DI Astbury determined there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Joseph’s death, concluding that the drugs found in his system had been taken voluntarily.
Area coroner Catherine McKenna recorded a conclusion of misadventure, stating the medical cause of death was ‘ketamine and MDMA toxicity’. She said: “Joseph took these drugs of his own free will and I’m satisfied he did not intend this outcome.”
The coroner expressed her hope that the tragic incident would act as a caution to others about the dangers of recreational drug use. She remarked: “Joseph was a talented, gregarious and joyful young man who had a promising career ahead of him and everything to live for.”
It was noted on Joseph’s actor profile that his early acting experiences were with the MaD Theatre Company in Monsall, performing at schools, theatres, and festivals throughout Manchester. His debut at the Manchester Fringe Festival came in 2012, followed by several television roles.
In 2018, Joseph featured on Coronation Street, portraying a character interested in buying Eileen Grimshaw’s car.
