‘Something she never wanted to do’: Father of slain diabetic girl Elizabeth Struhs reveals one regret as trial ends
The father of a young girl who made the fatal decision to stop administering her insulin has told a court of his “biggest regret” two years after she died.
After Elizabeth Struhs died in her family home, she was cremated.
It was the only option available after her father, Jason Richard Struhs, told coronial counsellor Julie Baker he didn’t want a funeral for his eight-year-old daughter.
He said he didn’t believe in them and told Ms Baker he “wouldn’t bury a bag of bones”.
This was just a few days after Elizabeth was found not breathing in the downstairs living room of her family’s home on the outskirts of Toowoomba, between January 6-7, 2022.
Days before, Mr Struhs, 53, made the critical decision to stop administering Elizabeth with her insulin - a drug she needed to live, as a Type 1 diabetic.
Multiple adults - including Mr Struhs and his wife, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, could have saved the child.
It would have taken a simple triple-0 call, or a trip to hospital, or the use of her lifesaving insulin kit, kept in a small pouch in one of the bedrooms.
But 14 members of the faith-healing group known as The Saints instead prayed - first, for God to heal the child of her ailment as she became more and more unwell.
After she passed, they began praying for God to raise her from the dead, adamantly believing she would come back.
Even at the conclusion of a mammoth Supreme Court trial in Brisbane, this belief has persisted.
During closing arguments, they said the child was “only sleeping” and that her resurrection was inevitable.
After two years, members of the group broke their silence at the Supreme Court in Brisbane during closing submissions on Friday.
Not only were they adamant she would be raised from the dead, they also continued another chilling claim that had persisted throughout their interviews with police, right up until the trial’s final arc.
They blamed Elizabeth for not wanting to take insulin.
Through tears, Mr Struhs told the court the decision to stop administering the drug was “mine and Elizabeth’s decision”.
Other members of the group had repeatedly told police the eight-year-old “hated” insulin and needles and was unhappy at having to take it all her life.
Mr Struhs had said himself Elizabeth was overjoyed after he told her they wouldn’t need to take the drug anymore.
“My biggest regret is watching her suffer through this whole ordeal, because I taught us to do something she never wanted to do,” Mr Struhs explained.
“There is too many occasions that I sat with my daughter and told her that the doctors told me that if she didn’t have the insulin, she would die.
“I had so many arguments about this and I all got... (was her saying) ‘Dad I’m healed, God has healed me’.”
It was something he said “infuriated” him as an unbeliever - until he joined the cult-like group several months before his daughter’s death.
The court was earlier told Elizabeth almost died in 2019 after becoming unwell from her then-undiagnosed condition.
Mr Struhs was initially not a member of The Saints and saved her life by taking her to hospital.
He and his wife were charged with failing to supply Elizabeth with the necessaries of life as a result.
But while Mr Struhs pleaded guilty and received a suspended jail term, Ms Struhs was jailed for five months after being found guilty in 2021.
During her imprisonment, Mr Struhs was baptised into the congregation.
Only encouragement I received was to ‘trust in God’: Jason
Mr Struhs and 62-year-old Brendan Luke Stevens – the leader of The Saints – are charged with the child’s murder.
Elizabeth’s mother Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, her older brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, Acacia Naree Stevens, 32, Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Sebastian James Stevens, 23, Andrea Louise Stevens, 34, Camellia Claire Stevens, 28 Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, Keita Courtney Martin, 23, are all charged with manslaughter.
They have all pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.
Throughout the trial, the Crown has argued Jason Struhs made the decision to stop administering Elizabeth’s insulin on January 3, 2022.
Members of The Saints allegedly encouraged and pressured Jason to adopt their hard-line beliefs before Elizabeth’s death and remain firm in his decision not to readminister the drug when his daughter’s condition deteriorated.
But Jason rejected this suggestion on Friday.
“The only encouragement I received was to trust in God,” he said.
“And God can, and will heal. Which he did to me, by taking my anger away, which man could not help me with.
Other members of The Saints echoed Jason’s remarks - denying there was any pressure and insisting Elizabeth would return from the dead.
Brendan Stevens claimed God “allowed” Elizabeth to pass, as a way for the congregation to “bring the knowledge of the Gospel” to man.
His address, which went over an hour, rambled into often nonsensical territory.
He rambled about about the Five Eyes alliance being “Israel of old”, referenced the phrase “In God we trust” being printed on American currency and claimed Americans had replaced a person’s organs with that of a pig’s - as proof of the medical system apparently going too far.
At other times he turned to the biblical story of Lazarus being resurrected by Jesus.
Brendan also referenced a biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon being sent to destroy Jerusalem in 604 BC - as part of the group’s belief there would be destruction and judgment on Earth which would be mocked.
“We do believe that Elizabeth’s passing is something that God has allowed as something to bring the knowledge of the gospel to the world,” he said.
The Saints’s trail of texts before Elizabeth died
Over the course of the mammoth trial, the court has been shown hundreds of texts exchanged between members of the group before and after Elizabeth’s death.
In the days when the child became critically ill in 2022, Kerrie reached out to Brendan Stevens and wrote: “Hi Brendan, praise the Lord. I pray for you as well. Jason is not going too well. I’m not sure what else you can say. He’s reading your text and he is not able to be encouraged by them.”
This occurred on January 4, 2022 - a day after Jason completely stopped administering his daughter insulin.
Jason also wrote to Brendan: “Hi Brendan, thanks for your thoughts, but I still really struggle with my flesh, with Elizabeth still being sick. I can’t seem to break out of this even with prayer and songs. I am so scared and lost in my thought.”
He continued: “I thought I was ready for this step, but now I seem to be questioning it.”
Brendan also texted the pair, describing Elizabeth’s sickness as a “little trial” to prove they were “faithful to God”.
“Don’t think that you’re waiting for the healing, you indeed have it. You have seen his glory,” Brendan is alleged to have said.
“Elizabeth is still healed as she was yesterday. The Lord will bless your faithful work.”
Other members of the group also sent messages of encouragement to Jason - one from Therese quoting from the biblical book of Joshua.
She encourages Jason to “be strong and of good courage” and says “we are already on the other side of death.”
Two days before Elizabeth died, Sebastian Stevens texted his father to “have a peaceful sleep” and declares Brendan had “sought the Lord in your time and trial and have declared his true following in front of The Saints, as usual.”
It continued with: “We are both one day nearer the end of Elizabeth’s sickness and one day nearer the Lord’s return. The road is narrow and there are few that follow but when he returns he will find faith in Israel.”
“Goodnight and God bless – peace, healing and comfort are your birthright so take them all.”
During recorded interviews with police, some members became hostile.
Brendan Stevens at first gave blunt, direct answers to detectives while keeping his arms folded and refusing to look at them.
He progressively becomes more agitated, raising his voice and accusing them of “fabricating” his murder charge and attempting to “persecute the church”.
One detective asks him: “Brendan, why did you let this happen?”
He responds: “It wasn’t me that let it happen, and (Elizabeth) herself did not want medical intervention.”
The same detective points out she was an eight-year-old girl and may not have been able to make that decision.
Brendan responds by claiming eight-year-olds in Victoria are “able to have sex changes” and questions why they are not prosecuting “everyone who dies in hospital”.
“You’re a 60-year-old man who’s lived a full life and has several adult children. This is an eight-year-old girl who has paid the price,” another detective tells him.
Brendan shouts: “She didn’t pay the price! A dead person doesn’t pay the price!”
“You’ve got no idea – she had no outward pain and suffering at all.”