‘Happy she died’: Killer religious sect dad’s shock confession

Elizabeth Struhs' father told police, “I’m happy for her” after being informed of the eight-year-old’s death in an interview captured on body-worn camera more than 24 hours after she died.

• WATCH NOW: Explosive doco ‘Failing Elizabeth’

“I’m happy for her.”

Those were the four words Jason Struhs told police after his eight-year-old daughter died from being deprived of her insulin.

WATCH THE EXPLOSIVE DOCO IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

Police interviews captured on body-worn cameras more than 24 hours after Elizabeth’s death depict Mr Struhs standing outside his home, calmly describing his daughter’s final hours.

Nearby, children are playing in the front yard, family members are singing hymns and laughing while Mr Struhs tells officers he’s happy he took away his diabetic daughter’s lifesaving insulin.

Just 36 hours earlier, Jason, his wife and 12 other members of a radical Christian group had been praying and singing for his daughter’s resurrection over her dead body.

“She just fell asleep and passed away,” Mr Struhs told police.

When asked whether he had any regrets, he told officers “not one”.

“I’m happy for her,” he said.

Elizabeth was found dead in her family’s Toowoomba home in January 2022.

Her parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs deprived her of the lifesaving medication used to help treat her type 1 diabetes.

Jason Struhs talks to police after Elizabeth is discovered deceased. Pic: Supplied.

They are among 14 members of the radical Christian Group, the Saints, who claimed they believed God could heal her instead of medical intervention.

Mr Struhs told officers he had been thinking about stopping Elizabeth’s insulin for some time.

Prior to that, he had staunchly opposed a push by his wife Kerrie and members of The Saints to stop the medication.

On the Sunday before her death Mr Struhs decided not to give Elizabeth the full dose of insulin she needed.

WATCH: FAILING ELIZABETH, EXPLOSIVE DOCO INTO 8YO’S DEATH

The next morning she woke up with a reading that he took as a sign she was healing.

It was the sign Mr Struhs had been waiting for.

“God showed me something there because there’s no way you come down 13 units without doing red. It felt right and she was as happy as anything,” he said. .

“You can’t believe in God and trust in man as well, because you’ve got to make a choice.”

Despite the obvious signs Elizabeth’s health was rapidly declining, the group was at peace with what was unfolding in front of them.

“God was going to save her, so it wasn’t worrying us where she was going, we knew God would save her and we had to put our trust in him and that’s what she wanted,” he said.

“She just had enough and believed in God and said he was going to heal her. It’s a hard thing to deal with, having diabetes, it’s a tough life for a little kid.

Kerrie Struhs speaks with police.

“She’s one tough warrior and the world can’t heal her, because she’s had to deal with it for her whole life, and she wanted to have a go without the insulin.”

More than two years before her death, Elizabeth had been rushed to hospital after her parents failed to seek medical attention for her.

She was diagnosed with diabetes and began receiving insulin. Her mother was jailed over the incident and was released on parole weeks before Elizabeth died.

In the police interview Mr Struhs told officers how he had fought his wife’s beliefs for many years before finally giving in.

“It all happened when Kerrie went to jail,” Mr Struhs said of his conversion.

“I struggled as a husband and as a father and dealing with seven kids. Myself, my wife was in jail. Because all the kids are spirit-felt and believe in God.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs

“I got to a breaking point, because I tried to change because I was a pretty angry man, not physically, but angry with the world and always at work, I was frustrated and I would bring it home.

“I couldn’t deal with situations and stuff. I didn’t believe in God at all. I thought it was rubbish and I fought Kerrie on it for 17 years … 17 years I didn’t believe in God.”

For years Mr Struhs was the one who provided her medication. It is alleged he was “manipulated” and pressured by his wife and other congregation members to join The Saints.

A trial heard the group united in a mission to persuade him to all aspects of the faith, including convincing him not to administer or require his daughter to take insulin.

“Kerrie went away and I completely probably had a mental breakdown, probably dealing with everything,” Mr Struhs said.

“Trying to work and leave everything to my 18-year-old son to deal with. I had to work to provide for my family.

“He actually broke down, crying and that broke my heart. I asked him for some help and we prayed and God took my anger away which I have not had taken away since I cannot remember.

“I am not angry now, I’m not upset, I am at peace. I received the Holy Spirit and I believe in God and we are so happy and peaceful and everything and it just changed me and that’s just what happened.”

In her interview with detectives, Kerrie Struhs said for 17 years, her husband had been “bagging” her and her beliefs.

“All of a sudden he has exactly the same belief. He is saying all the things that … know, quoting scriptures and just saying all the things that I would expect your close friends would be saying,” she said.

“But it’s just my husband, it was really overwhelming and just wonderful.”

Ms Struhs said she had spoken to her husband about stopping the medication.

“Elizabeth was always declaring I don’t need this anymore,” she said.

“We spoke about her not needing the medication and he was saying ‘that’s a big step’, because he’s come from the medical saying how she will die if she’s taken off this stuff.

“But through lots of prayer and encouragement and reading the scriptures, he came to realise that this is a thing.

“And he was starting to realise that of course this isn’t something that she needs and he decided to take a step in faith.”

After Elizabeth’s death, members of the group continued to pray over the little girl’s body before finally calling police the next day.

A member of The Saints, Therese Stevens, claimed to police they had given Elizabeth the best care they could.

“If somehow Elizabeth appears, which she will, but I don’t know when or where or how, when she does appear, will this still stand, this charge of having killed her if she’s alive,” she said.

From the outside, the house were Elizabeth Rose Struhs died seems like any other Rangeville home.

“That’s the question the government will have to ask itself, because you can’t be charged with killing someone who is alive.

“If you go to hospital and the hospital fails and they gave you all the attention that they could give and all the care and you died. Are they murderers? They would say they did everything that we could and now.

“We’ve done the best we could. And, yes, Elizabeth died, but we didn’t know that would happen. And there was no malicious intent there. And who’s to say that she didn’t want that? And how is that wrong?”

During the police interview Ms Stevens was shown a photo of the group praying over Elizabeth while she was critically ill.

“I’m smiling because Elizabeth is a healed girl and without the holy spirit all you can see is some stupid person talking in front of you that that kid is healed and alive when they’re dead,” she said.

“But I know Elizabeth will actually rise as truly as I know Jesus is alive in me.”

Elizabeth’s brother Zachary Struhs told police the group believed everything in the bible because it was the direct communication they had been provided.

“We believe it and we follow it and there’s nothing that will stop us,” he said.

“In this time Elizabeth is fully healed from her diabetes and although it appears that she has passed away.

“She will be risen again and will be with us in this lifetime and she’ll also live in the time to come because she also has the holy spirit that I received.
In a police interview, the leader of the group, Brendan Stevens, refuses to answer most questions put to him about Elizabeth’s death.

After almost 30 minutes of not answering any questions the police officer said to him “I’m putting things to you, but it’s up to you if you want to reply. I’m trying to get a deeper understanding.”

Mr Stevens defended his responses to the police officer.

“You’re not trying to gain an understanding. We know that from the outset you were trying to persecute the church. You have one intent, leave it there,” he said.

“If you investigated the death of Elizabeth Struhs, you would have covered it in the first five minutes, but you deliberately persecuted the church and all those involved continually.”

When asked about his extreme views, Mr Stevens said it wasn’t.

“It’s not extreme. It’s just the word of God. God heals that we rely on God and we’re entitled to rely on God.

“And there’s no reason why I should or anyone else should put their trust in the medical system which is failed any more than we should put it in God.

All 14 members of The Saints were found guilty of Elizabeth’s manslaughter.

Originally published as ‘Happy she died’: Killer religious sect dad’s shock confession