Religious group guilty of killing girl by putting faith before medicine

Fourteen members of a fringe religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl have been found guilty of manslaughter after one of Queensland’s biggest trials.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs, who had diabetes, died on January 7, 2022, while lying on a mattress on the floor of her family’s house in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

Her parents, Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, were members of a group called “the Saints”. They believed in the healing power of God and were accused by doctors, police and prosecutors of withholding lifesaving insulin from the girl.

Elizabeth Struhs, 8, who was denied life-saving insulin by her ultra-religious parents, died in January 2022.Credit: Nine

The parents were charged alongside 12 other members of the group, including its leader, Brendan Luke Stevens. They faced a judge-only trial and opted not to have legal representation.

After a nine-week trial, Justice Martin Burns handed down his verdict on Wednesday, finding all 14 guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Struhs and Stevens had been charged with murder but were found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter on the basis that it could not be proved that they knew their actions would result in Elizabeth’s death.

When asked in court if they had anything to say, Mr Struhs said “no, your honour”, while Stevens said “not that I can think of”.

Stevens was found to have pressured others to withhold insulin. His police interview was also released on Wednesday. In it, he defends his beliefs and expresses frustration with the law.

Burns said Stevens told police he and the other members of the group “put all of [their] trust in God” for healing.

“He said the Bible exhorts them to do so and ‘to seek no other help’. Trusting in God ‘completely’ meant that they ‘do not put their faith in the men of this world’,” Burns said.

“He, therefore, did not believe Elizabeth required insulin at any point. Mr Stevens spoke of the ‘step in faith’ taken by Jason Struhs, which he described as Mr Struhs putting his faith in God by deciding to stop giving Elizabeth insulin.”

In his 469-page written judgment, Burns was highly critical of Elizabeth’s mother – who had been devout for longer than Mr Struhs – saying she displayed “grave moral guilt and disregard for human life”.

“As with her husband, the complete abdication on Ms Struhs’ part of the legal duty she owed to her daughter constituted such an egregious departure from the standard of care a reasonable member of the community would observe in the same circumstances as to amount to a crime against the state that is deserving of punishment,” Burns said.

Outside court, Jayde Struhs, Elizabeth’s older sister who left home at 16, said the system had failed her sister.

“We are only here today because more wasn’t done sooner to protect her, or remove her from an incredibly unsafe situation,” she said.

In his police interview, Stevens, 63, told detectives they had made an “innocent death” out to be murder, and he questioned why the parents of children who died in hospital were not prosecuted.

He claimed Elizabeth had told him “on many occasions” she did not want to take insulin, something Mr Struhs also claimed in his interview.

“She didn’t want to be on it, and she wanted to trust in God, and so did her father and mother ... she doesn’t pay the price. A dead person doesn’t pay the price,” Stevens said.

“You’ve got no idea ... she had no outward painful suffering at all.”

The defendants will be sentenced at a later date.

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