Elizabeth Struhs death: Neighbours tell of hearing chants, only realising later that little girl had died

For two days the parents of little Elizabeth Struhs and their fellow religious fanatics sang and prayed as she lay dying. Only after her tragic death have neighbours realised what the chants they overheard signified.

Neighbours of Elizabeth Struhs have been left wondering if there was anything they could have done to save the little girl after the awful truth about what happened on their quiet street was uncovered.

In the days after Elizabeth’s death at the hands of her parents and members of fringe religious sect the Saints, one of her neighbours came to learn that what he had mistaken for yuletide celebrations was in fact 14 adults letting the little girl die over days as they sang and prayed.

The eight-year-old, a sufferer of incurable type 1 diabetes, died in her family’s Meredith Cres home in January 2022 after her parents, Jason and Kerrie, took her off lifesaving insulin in an attempt to “prove their faith” in God’s healing powers.

Years later her neighbour, who wished to be known as John, is still shocked at the deadly medieval-like ritual that played out under the nose of neighbours in this quiet and friendly Rangeville street.

He knew the girl – the parents would say hello but not much more.

Sure, they were a close-knit insular family, but “we didn’t expect them to be a part of a bloody cult”.

Elizabeth Struhs died in her family’s Meredith Cres home in January 2022 after her parents, Jason and Kerrie, took her off lifesaving insulin.

If he had just known, he could have done something.

“The worst part about it was just finding out the fact that they sat there singing around the kid and we heard that singing for those two days,” John told The Saturday Courier-Mail. “Just knowing that someone, any of us (neighbours), could have come and helped … pretty much broke us.

“The neighbours were just shocked – the fact that that happened there, like no one expected it. The family was, like I say, close-knit … but we never expected for something like that to even occur.”

The family home on Meredith Crescent in Toowoomba.

On Wednesday Jason, Kerrie and 12 other members of their fringe religious group known as The Saints, including its leader Brendan Stevens, were found guilty of Elizabeth’s manslaughter.

John recalled the day her death was belatedly reported to authorities by her father, who had waited some 36 hours before making the call.

John says he is still shocked at the deadly medieval-like ritual that played out under the nose of neighbours. Picture: David Martinelli

“I went to go out and come out the door and I see that there’s an ambulance just up the gate,” he said.

“I noticed that the (paramedic) lady came back out crying and I’m like, OK, something’s going on. And then within not even 10, 15 minutes, we had like three or four police cars rock out and … a couple of hours later we found out exactly what happened.

“The little girl was found dead on the floor.”

John, who has a daughter near Elizabeth’s age, said there were no tears coming from her parents that day.

The Saints members believed in the bible in a literal sense, including that God can heal physical illness.

Elizabeth’s mother, Kerrie was found guilty this week of her manslaughter and has previously been jailed for failing to seek urgent medical care.

The extent of their belief, in what is known as divine or miraculous healing, came at the expense of doctors and modern medicine which the Saints viewed derisively.

More than one member referred to it as witchcraft.

This wasn’t a secret.

After all, Kerrie had previously been jailed for failing to seek urgent medical care for Elizabeth in 2019.

Her address to the jury during her first trial reads like a dissertation on God’s supposed healing powers.

She was released on parole just three weeks before Elizabeth’s death and even told the parole officer she would do the same thing again.

So it’s little wonder that John is incredulous that authorities didn’t take more forceful action and remove Kerrie from the home.

“They allowed that to happen. And now that young little girl lost their life because a family thought that in a belief that God would bring her back. I don’t care what anyone says, that’s never going to happen and we all know it,” he said.

Elizabeth’s father, Jason, was found guilty of manslaughter this week.

But John’s real disgust is reserved for those who stood, watched and waited as Elizabeth slipped away in pain.

“Every person that was in that house with that little girl on the ground, knowing that they were stopping her and she was sick, they deserve to go to prison for life,” he said. “Every single one of them just stood there. So they deserve what we will come to them – and hopefully a good lot.”

Those found responsible for Elizabeth’s death could be sentenced as early as February 11.

Justice Martin Burns, who presided over their trial and will be deciding their sentences, said there was a range of culpability among the defendants for Elizabeth’s death.

Jason Struhs and Brendan Stevens were found not guilty of murder.

Originally published as Elizabeth Struhs death: Neighbours tell of hearing chants, only realising later that little girl had died