‘Confused’: Woman charged 8yo diabetic’s death told police she ‘never thought’ girl would die from insulin being withdrawn
One of the women charged over the death of a young girl whose insulin was withdrawn for days said she was “confused” as to why the child died despite believing God would heal her.
A woman charged over the death of a eight-year-old girl who had her lifesaving diabetic medication allegedly withdrawn by her family and those closest to her told police she was “confused” when the girl died despite her belief God would heal her
Elizabeth Struhs died at her family’s Rangeville home between January 6-7 in 2022 after her father, Jason Richard Struhs, allegedly stopped administering her insulin medication in a bid to prove God had healed her.
Mr Struhs and the leader of a tight religious group, Brendan Luke Stevens, are each charged with the girl’s murder.
They’re currently standing trial alongside 12 other members of the religious group known as The Saints, who are facing manslaughter charges.
All 14 have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.
As the mammoth trial continued on Friday, the police statement made by one of the co-accused, Samantha Schoenfisch, was read out to the court on Friday.
Ms Schoenfisch, who has pleaded not guilty, told police she’d only joined the church around the same time Elizabeth’s father, Jason, joined in August 2021.
Ms Schoenfisch said she was at the Struhs home on and off in the days after Elizabeth was allegedly taken off her medication.
She said in her statement that “the family wasn’t distraught” after Elizabeth died.
“We believe Elizabeth is only sleeping,” she told police.
“We’re not sure when or how or why God’s doing this.
“We keep expecting to get a weird call from the coroner and when we got a call from the coroner, (we said) ‘has she jumped up, what’s happening’.
“We don’t believe she is dead.
“We believe she is just sleeping. We just keep waiting for her to reappear.”
Ms Schoenfisch said the group “took a day to come to terms” that Elizabeth had died.
The court previously was told emergency services weren’t called until about 36 hours after Elizabeth is believed to have died.
She told police Jason eventually called police after he told the group ‘I don’t believe today’s the day we are going to see the healing’ and he realised ‘we can’t leave her body there’ to decompose.
Ms Schoenfish also told police that Elizabeth had said “for years” that she was going to stop taking insulin when she turned 16.
She said the young girl would tell the group: “I know I’m healed, I’m not worried, I’m not afraid”.
A recorded police interview with Andrea Louise Stevens, one of Mr Stevens’s children, was also played in court on Friday.
Ms Stevens tells police how the group were surprised when Elizabeth’s health declined after being taken off medication and then again when she died.
However, she said the group believed God was showing them his plan at every stage of Elizabeth’s health journey.
“We were confused because we believed that the lord would heal (her) when Jason removed the insulin,” Ms Stevens says during the interview.
“When that hadn’t happen we said ‘Okay, this is a test of our faith that perhaps she will decline in health to prove that not only was she taken off insulin that she was just fine’... which is what we always expected.
“Then when she was taken off it and became sick again … (we believed she would) then absolutely heal from it, we absolutely expected that.
“And then when that didn’t happen we said ‘okay, we’re going to see her raise from the dead’.
“We’d never seen it before but we have … certainly read it in the Bible, so we did expect that would happen.”
When asked by police what she expected to happen to Elizabeth when she was taken off her medication, Ms Stevens said she knew god would heal the young girl.
“We could see what’s happened since Jason has removed her insulin,” she said.
“I didn’t doubt my God and I still don’t, I just know he’s got a bigger plan than I first imagined.”
Ms Stevens said she wouldn’t change how she acted in the days leading up to Elizabeth’s death.
“I never thought she would die by not taking insulin,” she said.
“We never expected to get to the point it has now but we wouldn’t have changed anything knowing it’s come to this because it’s all in God’s plan.
“We still believe that he will heal us and he will raise Elizabeth from the dead.”
Ms Stevens said the group had been praying for Elizabeth’s healing ever since her diabetes diagnosis in 2019.
She explained the group believed that God’s “healing” would only be proven after she stopped taking her medication but she never prevented Jason from administering the medication.
“She was on insulin for two years, that was a test of our faith,” Ms Stevens said.
“We as believers of God were surprised it went that far but by no way did it diminish our faith in God because our God is true and he has proven himself to us.
“We cared for her every minute and everyday and we expected her to raised and healed on our side.”
Andrea said Elizabeth didn’t like taking her medication because it “was just a drain on her continuously”.
“It was Jason who was injecting with it,” she said.
“There was nothing we could physically do to change that until Jason (joined the church).
“There was always that pain around her.”
Ms Stevens is heard saying she thought Elizabeth did not live a normal life because of the insulin, saying it was a burden to the child and she did not have any “freedom”.“It’s not like she lived a normal life because she was on insulin.
“It was no way an answer to her healing because she was held down by that (the insulin) every day,” she said.
The court has previously been told Jason and Kerrie Struhs were both charged with failing to supply Elizabeth with the necessaries of life after the child almost died from the then-undiagnosed condition in 2019.
Jason pleaded guilty and received a suspended jail term.
Kerrie was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to five months’ jail in 2021.
During the time his wife was incarcerated, Jason was baptised into The Saints, despite not approving of his wife’s involvement in the church for years before he joined.
Andrea said “no one forced” Jason to join their church.
“He hated our family with a vengeance, he couldn’t stand the sight of us,” she said.
“All of that turned around when he came crumbling to his knees and found (the church).
“That is just an incredible thing without the whole story of Elizabeth getting sick and the fallout of Kerrie going to prison, he fell to his knees because of that.
“We didn’t force him to join our family because none could because he hated us.”
The Crown contends Jason and members of The Saints, who believe in the healing power of God instead of using medicine, “manipulated” Jason into joining the group and adopting their hard line beliefs on medical care.
It’s further alleged their actions resulted in Elizabeth’s death after the insulin was withheld.
The group also allegedly opted to pray for her to be raised from the dead instead of phoning triple-0, including after her death.
The judge-only trial continues on Thursday.