Grieving dad warns against fatal 'game'

Abigail Corthals. Photo / Supplied

Gold Coast father Michael Corthals warned his bright young daughter about drugs, bullying and other threats teenagers typically face.

But he was powerless to warn Abigail about the "choking game" he knew nothing about until he walked into her bedroom and found the 15-year-old dead with a belt round her neck.

Corthals says he lacks the words to describe his grief over the senseless loss of his bright young girl.

But he is determined to talk about the "game" teenagers are playing, putting their lives on the line.

After Abigail's October 3 death, Corthals and his wife, Francoise, discovered their daughter's friends were also engaged in the Russian-roulette practice in pursuit of a quick high.

Known variously as the choking game, black-out, and the knock-out game, it involves young people asphyxiating each other or themselves to achieve a high. The choking produces a brief feeling of euphoria by depriving the brain of oxygen.

Abigail had chosen to do it while she was alone and no one was there to help her when things went wrong.

"I want other parents to know ... to spread the word," Corthals told ABC Radio yesterday. He said Abigail had spent the last day of her school holidays doing what she normally did, including heading out for a shopping trip.

That afternoon, her parents called out to her but there was no answer. That is when Corthals found her.

"We tried to do CPR," he said, but Abigail was already gone. He said investigations after her death revealed she had previously played the game with school friends.

Corthals said Abigail's school now planned an awareness campaign to warn teens they could lose their lives.

"Things happen to even the smartest kids. When you're 15, you ... don't think of the consequences, you don't think of the danger. They don't realise that kind of game can actually kill, and it did."

- AAP