Elizabeth Struhs verdict: 14 found guilty of manslaughter as judgment handed down
The parents and 12 fellow members of a religious group who sang and prayed that God would raise Toowoomba girl Elizabeth Struhs from the dead have been found guilty of manslaughter.
QLD News
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The parents of a young girl who slowly died as they purposefully deprived her of medication in line with the extreme beliefs of their cult-like religious group where modern medicine was deemed “witchcraft” displayed “grave moral guilt and disregard for human life”.
Jason and Kerrie Struhs were on Wednesday found guilty of the manslaughter of their eight year old daughter Elizabeth in their Toowoomba home in January 2022.
Twelve other members of the religious group known as the Saints, who prayed and sang in delusional hopes that god would raise Elizabeth from the dead, were also found guilty of manslaughter.
They are the group’s leader Brendan Stevens, 63, his wife Loretta, 67, and their children – Therese 37, Sebastian, 24, Camellia, 29, Andrea, 35, Alexander 26, and Acaci, 32, - married couple Samantha, 26, and Lachlan Schoenfisch, 34, and Keita Martin, 24, who lived with the Stevens family.
Elizabeth’s older brother Zachary, 22, was also found guilty of manslaughter.
Elizabeth was “a vibrant, happy child with … her whole life ahead of her” that had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes requiring lifelong insulin dependency about two and a half years before her death.
Both her parents were previously prosecuted for failing to provide her the necessaries of life when she fell gravely ill in 2019 and Jason rushed her to hospital minutes from death.
Jason, then an atheist, claimed at the time that Elizabeth’s true condition had been played down by his wife whose religious group viewed god’s supposed ability to heal sickness as a central tenet of their faith and that doctors or medicine were largely treated with contempt by members
“More than one accused described the practice of medicine as ‘witchcraft’,” Justice Martin Burns said in his judgement published shortly after he delivered his verdict in Brisbane’s Supreme Court.
It was while Kerrie was serving her five month sentence for failing to get medical help for Elizabeth in 2019 that Jason, who had avoided actual jail by co-operating with police, suddenly converted to religion and became a member of the Saints after 17 years of staunchly opposing them. Before then Jason was fastidious in making sure Eliabeth took her insulin.
But over the following months the Saints persuaded and encouraged Jason to cease providing her with the life saving medication.
Kerrie was released from jail on parole three weeks before Elizabeth’s death and not long after on January 2 2022 Jason, who by then had been baptised by Brendan in his backyard and was “speaking in tongues”, declared to the Saints that Elizabeth had been healed by god of diabetes.
Elizabeth’s insulin was ceased the next day and over the next few days she grew sicker - vomiting, needing help to get to the toilet, slurring her words - until she descended into a state of altered consciousness and then stopped breathing on January 7 while laying on a mattress in a downstairs room.
It would be another 36 hours before reality sunk in for Jason, 53, and he called an ambulance to their Rangeville home.
“Mr Struhs’ failure 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,” Justice Burns said.
“Mr Struhs’ complete abdication of the duty he owed to his child, viewed objectively, involved grave moral guilt and disregard for human life. It constitutes, at the very minimum, criminal negligence.”
He repeated similar words for Kerrie, 49.
Justice Burn said the persuasion, encouragement and support Mr Stevens gave Jason Struhs to deprive Elizabeth of insulin as well as medical care and treatment was unlawful.
He found the remaining defendants counselled and aided Elizabeth’s killing by encouraging Jason to cease providing insulin, as well as medical care and treatment, to the child.
Jason was found not guilty of murder as it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that he fully realised that Elizabeth would probably die as a consequence of his failure to act.
“There remained a reasonable possibility that in the cloistered atmosphere of the Church which enveloped Mr Struhs … he was so consumed by the particular belief in the healing power of God promoted by its members that he never came to the full realisation Elizabeth would probably die, believing instead that God would not allow that to happen,” Justice Burns said.
He said “similar considerations” applied in the case of Brendan Stevens who was also found not guilty of murder. He said none of the defendants had intended for Elizabeth to die.
There was no strong reaction among the defendants, who at the start of the trial declared they were not there to fight the charge, after the verdict with some simply shrugging their shoulders.
Justice Burns strongly urged the self-represented defendants to seek legal counsel prior to their sentencing which he adjourned to February 11.
“It’s by no means too late to get lawyers,” he said.
Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said she would consider the outcomes of the death of Elizabeth and any shortfalls in the “system we inherited”. She said she would welcome a coroner’s inquiry.
“The death of Elizabeth Struhs is a tragedy and my thoughts and deepest sympathies continue to be with those impacted by her death,” Ms Camm said.
“We will now consider the outcomes of this case as we continue to look at the shortfalls across this system that we inherited.
“It is a huge challenge we now face but is the challenge we must take on because our priority is keeping more children safe, delivering more wraparound services for families, and doing everything we can to intervene as early as we can so we don’t continue to make the mistakes of the past.
“I welcome a Coroner’s Inquiry into this case, as well as any findings or further recommendations to improve child safety practices in this state.”
Originally published as Elizabeth Struhs verdict: 14 found guilty of manslaughter as judgment handed down
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