Elizabeth Struhs: Day of Reckoning for Toowoomba girl’s religious fanatic killers

All 14 members of a religious group have learned their fate for the “profoundly disturbing and preventable” death of Elizabeth Struhs who slowly died as they prayed. HAVE YOUR SAY

A judge has slammed the actions of 14 religious sect members who let “faith blind” them as an eight-year-old girl suffered a slow, painful death, while they prayed.

The killers of the little girl, who was sacrificed in the name of a distorted view of religion by fanatics – including her parents – have this afternoon been jailed.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs, 8, died at her Toowoomba home in January 2022 after her parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs, withdrew the lifesaving medication that had been used to treat her diabetes type 1 to prove their faith in god.

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They and 12 other members of a hard line sect known as the Saints were found guilty of her manslaughter last month in Brisbane’s Supreme Court.

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 Acacia, 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.

The only two charged with murder – Jason and Brendan – were found not guilty of that charge.

THE SENTENCES

Justice Martin Burns sentenced Elizabeth’s father, Jason Struhs, to 14 years prison.

He also activated a six-month sentence that had been suspended over failing to provide his daughter the necessaries of life in 2019.

He will have to serve 80 per cent before being eligible for parole. 1142 days of pre-sentence custody were declared as time served.

“Take him down,” Justice Burns barked.

Corrective Services removed him from the room and placed him in a holding cell out of the courtroom.

Elizabeth’s mother Kerrie Struhs was sentenced to 14 years with Justice Burns saying her culpability was higher than her husband’s because of her deception in the lead up to the death.

She will have to serve longer because she was on parole at the time she killed her daughter. Her total period of imprisonment is a little over 15 years.

Eight-year-old Toowoomba girl Elizabeth Struhs.

Brendan Stevens was sentenced to 13 years prison.

“Your influence on the tragic outcome of this case was to my mind was decisive,” Justice Burns said.

“I think it is quite likely had you not encouraged Jason Struhs on that Tuesday afternoon to keep believing in your brand of faith, he would have taken Elizabeth to hospital. Had that occurred, she would be with us today. “

He said Brendan’s attempt to distance himself from having influenced Jason was “deplorable”.

“You are a dangerous highly manipulative individual,” he said.

Justice Burns sentenced the remaining offenders to the following terms:

Zachary Alan Struhs received six years, Loretta Mary Stevens nine years, Therese Maria Stevens seven years, Andrea Louise Stevens seven years, Acacia Naree Stevens seven years, Camellia Claire Stevens seven years, Alexander Francis Stevens seven years, Sebastian James Stevens seven years, Keita Courtney Martin seven years, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch seven years and Samantha Emily Schoenfisch six years.

These offenders along with Brendan Stevens had 967 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time served.

Kerrie Struhs, like her husband, had 1142 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time served.

Jason, Kerrie and Brendan will also have to serve 80 per cent of their sentences before being eligible for parole.

The rest will be eligible for parole after serving half of their sentence.

The offenders were dressed casually in the dock with Jason Struhs, wearing a grey coloured shirt with no tie.

Kerrie Struhs was speaking to Brendan Stevens and his wife in an animated fashion before the sentencing hearing started.

The offenders began to look downcast and subdued as Justice Burns delivered his stinging rebuke of their behaviour. Brendan Stevens looked around trying to catch the eye of his co-offenders at one stage. As each one was sentenced and led away they smiled at their co-offenders.

Jayde Struhs outside court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Outside court, Elizabeth’s sister, Jayde Struhs said they got justice for what was done to her sibling.

“The coercion and the manipulation Brendan used to control not only his own family but mine, is the most unforgivable and disgusting abuse of people’s vulnerability,” she said.

“As we move on from this chapter in our lives, we begin to heal.

“Elizabeth was a young, bright girl with big dreams of helping others like her with diabetes, her kind soul and infectious laughter will forever hold a place in our hearts as we remember her.”

JUDGE’S SCATHING SUMMARY

Justice Martin Burns gave a brief overview of the case as he commenced sentencing.

“Elizabeth’s last day of school, was 8th of December, 2021 she had just completed grade three, and she, like any other eight year old child, was no doubt, looking forward to the holidays,” he said.

“There had, of course, been a dramatic and ultimately fatal change in Elizabeth’s home environment by the time her mother was released from prison.

“After something like 17 years of staunch opposition and acting out of fear he would lose his family. Jason Struhs joined the Church, that happened on 21 August, 2021.

“He was, of course, the one person who pledged and ensured the regime of medical treatment which had been prescribed for Elizabeth and which was so essential to the preservation of her life continued without interference, but he quickly became immersed in the teachings of the Church and the belief over its members, in the healing power of God to the exclusion of any medical care or treatment.

Cult leader Brendan Luke Stevens. Picture: A Current Affair.

“The influence exerted on Mr Struhs by the rest of you was considerable. Mr Struhs’ initial apprehension about the abandonment of insulin was gradually worn down, and after experimenting with reduction and types of insulin … it culminated in his decision to cease to altogether.

“Of course, once insulin had ceased, you were united in the belief Elizabeth had been or would be healed and that is, in fact what you prayed for the days and nights that followed.

“But when Elizabeth died on the Friday morning, you could no longer maintain that belief. Instead, in the 36 hours you had available to you for contemplation before Jason Struhs called triple 0, you pivoted to a belief that God had allowed Elizabeth to die so that he could raise her from the dead and in that way, show you a miracle to reaffirm your faith.”

Justice Burns, spoke of how each of the offenders knew Elizabeth had nearly died in 2019 from sickness and then began exhibiting the same type of symptoms when Jason stopped the insulin in January 2022.

“I’m left with no other conclusion that you allowed your faith to blind you to Elizabeth’s real plight,” he said.

“Elizabeth suffered a slow, painful death, and you are all in one way or another, responsible, starting with you, Jason and Kerry Struhs.

“You put your own personal beliefs, ahead of your duty and then staked the life of your eight-year-old child on it.”

Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs. Pic: Supplied

He said the defendants “have taken the life of a happy child who should have gone on to enjoy a full life”.

“To your discredit many of you sought to distance yourselves from the horror of what you did,” he said.

Justice Burns said Elizabeth’s death “was and remains profoundly disturbing”.

“If for no other reason, than it was so entirely and easily preventable”,” he said.

“Each of you engaged in some sort of spiritual gamble with the life of a child, a child you profess to love.

“The arrogance of your belief in that regard was and remains bewildering.

“What you did was gamble with the life of the child based on your peculiar interpretation of disparate passages from the Bible and nothing more.”

He said the prospects of rehabilitation of the offenders appeared limited “to say the least”.

“Not one of you seem to have found it within yourselves to even consider the possibility your leader’s interpretation of the Bible might be wrong,” he said.

“Indeed, throughout the numerous interviews, which were placed before the court hour after hour, not one of you could point to a single line of scripture in which resort to doctors or medicines was expressly forbidden.”

Justice Burns then moved on to assessing the culpability of the offenders. He said the criminal culpability of Jason and Kerrie Struhs and Brendan Stevens was high.

Brendan’s wife Loretta exhibited less criminal culpability, but it was still serious given her “matriarchal” role, the court heard.

He said for the rest of the offenders their criminal culpability was less because of the indoctrination they had suffered.

“Your culpability is reduced significantly by the lesser roles you play and the fact that you were also indoctrinated into the beliefs of the church and continually subjected to the controlling influence exerted over you by Brendan Stevens,” he said.

“For many of you, that occurred from birth and in the time since.”

WHAT LED TO THE TRAGEDY

In 2019 Elizabeth, then six, became gravely sick and it was only when she was minutes from death was she rushed to hospital by her father Jason, who was not a member of the Saints or indeed in any way religious at the time.

At hospital Elizabeth was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which would require lifelong insulin treatment to prevent her from developing the potentially fatal diabetic ketoacidosis which had made her sick in the first place.

The Toowoomba home where Elizabeth was found.

Both parents were prosecuted over their failure to provide Elizabeth timely medical treatment over that incident and Kerrie, 49, would later serve a number of months in jail for it in 2021.

Jason, 53, had avoided jail by giving evidence against Kerrie who he was mad at for downplaying Elizabeth’s sickness at the time. He became fastidious in making sure his daughter received her daily insulin injections and monitored her blood sugar levels.

His dedication to ensuring Elizabeth was medicated lasted more than two years until Kerrie was sent to prison over the 2019 incident.

At this point after 17 years of staunch opposition to the Saints and his wife’s strange religious beliefs Jason suddenly converted and was baptised by Brendan, a former Queensland cop, in late 2021. At the time his marriage had been on the rocks with Kerrie in prison and he was worried about losing his family.

Despite becoming a member of the Saints, Jason initially held out stopping Elizabeth’s insulin, despite the group’s central belief in using the healing power of god rather than modern medicine. Some members even referred to it as witchcraft and Samantha Schoenfisch actually threw out her husband’s haemorrhoid cream after joining the church such was their devotion to believing in god’s ability to heal illness rather than modern medicine. Lachlan himself stopped wearing his reading glasses.

Over the following months Jason’s wife Kerrie and the other Saints pressured and encouraged Jason to test his faith in god and withdraw his daughter’s insulin.

Jason eventually succumbed to the pressure and completely stopped providing Elizabeth insulin on January 3 2022 just weeks after Kerrie was released on parole.

Over the following days little Elizabeth withered away while surrounded by the offenders until her body gave in and she died either on January 6 or 7 due to diabetic ketoacidosis from lack of insulin.

The offenders continued to pray and sing over her body in an unhinged attempt to have their god make her rise from death. This continued until Jason finally called for an ambulance some 36 hours after Elizabeth had perished.

The 14 members of the religious cult. Picture: NewsWire

At a sentencing hearing earlier this month Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Caroline Marco submitted that Jason and Kerrie should be sentenced to 15 years prison. A sentence of 10 years or more will automatically trigger a serious violent offence declaration which will require 80 per cent of the sentence to be served before being eligible for parole.

Justice Martin Burns found Elizabeth’s parents guilty of manslaughter on the basis they breached their legal duty to provide their daughter medical care and treatment necessary for her life and this failure amounted to criminal negligence.

Ms Marco sought a sentence of 12 years prison for Brendan and between seven and eight years for the balance of the offenders.

Justice Burns found Brendan guilty of manslaughter on the basis he both procured and aided the killing of Elizabeth by intentionally and successfully persuading Jason to cease providing insulin as well as medical care and treatment to her and by intentionally encouraging and supporting him to continue to do so.

The remaining offenders were found guilty of manslaughter by intentionally encouraging Jason to cease providing insulin as well as medical care and treatment to Elizabeth and by intentionally supporting his choice to continue to do so.

Originally published as Elizabeth Struhs: Day of Reckoning for Toowoomba girl’s religious fanatic killers