19-year-old university student died after playing a ‘shot pong’ drinking game

A university student died after participating in a “shot pong” drinking game with his flatmates.

19-year-old Daniel Muzamba was found dead in this bedroom at the West Downs Student Village by other University of Winchester students on 2nd April 2022. An inquest at Winchester Crown Court this week is investigating the causes of his death.

The night before Daniel died, he played “shot pong” with his friends – a game when people try to throw a ball into cups of alcohol, which the other team then has to drink. Daniel drank a large mixture of beer, Disaronno amaretto, gin, peach schnapps and wine.

Daniel’s blood alcohol level was at 4.6 times the driving limit.

His friend Ben Tharle told the court that Daniel was “10 of of 10 drunk”, fell over five times, and hit his head “really hard”.

The West Downs Student Village
(Image via Google Maps)

Ben, his girlfriend and another friend were concerned by Daniel’s behaviour and put him to bed.

He told the court, “I remember all three of us decided that we needed to put him away. He fell over, and then turned around and put himself against the bed. We were in the room talking to him. After a while, we helped him get into bed and he seemed to go very quietly to sleep.

“In hindsight, we should never have done that. We should have called an ambulance.”

Two students took selfies with Daniel’s phone in the kitchen.

Ben discovered Daniel’s body in his bedroom at about 3pm on the following afternoon. He said, “He had foam coming out of the side of his mouth. He was cold to the touch – so cold.”

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The police said at the inquest that there wasn’t “any evidence that there was third-party involvement” in Daniel’s death. However, the Muzamba family’s lawyer has called for an investigation into the students taking selfies.

The University of Winchester campus
(Image by Basher Eyre via Creative Commons)

Daniel’s mother wrote a statement which said: “They woke up the following morning but they did not bother checking on him until three in the afternoon. They were taking selfies with his phone. Were they not supposed to call an ambulance if there was nothing they were hiding? Why did they keep Danny’s phone away from him? Was it because they did not want Danny to call for help? Danny is always with his phone.”

Daniel was originally from London, then lived in the Totton area of Southampton. He went to The Romsey School, then Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in Eastleigh.

The statement from Daniel’s mother read: “The life of a young man is lost. Our hearts will be forever broken.”

Featured image of the University of Winchester by UoWSRM via Creative Commons. Feature image of Daniel via Facebook.