Elizabeth Struhs’ sister Jayde Struhs launches lawsuit against State Government

The sister of Elizabeth Struhs has launched a mystery lawsuit against the State Government.

Jayde Struths. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The sister of 8-year-old Toowoomba girl Elizabeth Struhs, who allegedly died at the hands of members of a radical home-based religious sect called the Saints, has launched a mystery lawsuit against the State Government.

Jayde Struhs filed a Supreme Court application to commence proceedings against the State of Queensland last month after a criminal trial wrapped up against her parents, Jason and Kerrie, and 12 other members of the Saints who are accused of withdrawing Elizabeth’s insulin treatment for diabetes.

Details of the lawsuit are shrouded in secrecy due to new court rules blocking access to previously publicly-available documents.

Jayde Struths has launched a myserty lawsuit. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Ms Struhs, who is gay and left the family home at 16 due to her family’s strict religious beliefs and was not accused of any wrongdoing, has declined to comment on the claim which comes as the judge in the criminal trial prepares to hand down his verdict - possibly as early as this week.

The two-month, judge-only Supreme Court trial heard Elizabeth died slowly over several days on a mattress on the floor of her Rangeville home in January 2022 after her insulin was withdrawn, as the 14 Saints gathered around her to pray and sing songs in the belief that God would heal her.

Jason Struhs, 52, and Saints leader Brendan Stevens, 62, are charged with murder while the other 12 - including Kerrie, 49, and Elizabeth’s brother Zachary, 21, - are charged with manslaughter.

Also facing manslaughter charges are Stevens’ wife Loretta, 67, and six of their children aged 23 to 37.

All 14 defendants have pleaded not guilty.

A week after Elizabeth’s death, Jayde launched a GoFundMe appeal to help raise and care for her five youngest siblings, aged 3 to 16.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs.

She said Elizabeth’s death had left her extended family “completely shattered and heartbroken”.

“Elizabeth Rose Struhs was taken from us far too soon, and a lifetime of memories that we never got to have with her was gone in a moment,” she wrote in the fundraiser appeal.

“Her brave spirit in the face of medical adversity was inspiring. She was a bright light on all that met her.”

Jayde also told the criminal trial about life growing up in what was labelled in court as a “cult”.

She said the family stopped celebrating Christmas and Easter after Kerrie joined the Saints.

The Saints believed the holidays were “pagan festivals” and the religious group believed in the healing power of God over modern medicine, she said.

“The view was and always has been that God created us, so he can heal us, not to rely on medicine, it was all natural, but we would pray to God to heal us,” Jayde told the court.

Jayde told the court she left the family home in 2014, when she was aged 16.

“I was scared of what was going to happen to me if I did accept myself and it was talked about that I would practically endure hell forever,” she told the Supreme Court.

“(Being gay) was seen as an abomination in the sight of God and that was the words that were used, it was disgusting.”

When Elizabeth was hospitalised in 2019 due to her then unknown diabetic condition, her father vowed to “make a lot of changes at home” and “protect Elizabeth” against his wife’s hardline religious beliefs against traditional medication, Jayde told the court.

“He said he knew he would have to stand in the way and take full responsibility for caring for her, knowing that he would get no help,” Ms Struhs said of her father Jason, who at that stage was not a member of the Saints.