Elizabeth Struhs trial: Alleged sect leader’s remarkable statement in court

The alleged leader of a hardline religious sect whose members are on trial for the homicide of a little girl has made a remarkable admission, later being told it could have “very serious consequences”.

Brendan Luke Stevens, the alleged leader of the religious sect, is charged with murder.

The alleged leader of a hardline religious sect whose members are on trial for the homicide of a little girl, who was allegedly denied life-saving insulin, has made a remarkable admission.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs was found dead in her family’s Toowoomba home in January 2022.

The crown alleges her parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs, had taken her off insulin used to treat her incurable type 1 diabetes, in an attempt to “prove their faith” in God’s healing powers.

They are among 14 members of a fringe Christian group known as the Saints, which believed in divine healing over the medical system, on trial in Brisbane’s Supreme Court for Elizabeth’s alleged homicide.

Jason Struhs, 52, and the religious group’s alleged leader Brendan Stevens 62, are on trial for murder while the other 12 defendants are charged with manslaughter.

They are Kerrie Struhs, 49, Zachary Struhs, 21, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, Therese Maria Stevens, 36, Andrea Louise Stevens, 34, Acacia Naree Stevens, 31, Camellia Claire Stevens, 28, Alexander Francis Stevens, 25, Sebastian James Stevens, 23, Keita Courtney Martin, 22,

Elizabeth Rose Struhs.

Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 33, and Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 25.

The prosecution has closed its case and the next phase of the trial will be legal argument over evidence admissibility against the defendants that will be guided by a rule from a 60-year-old High Court case known as Tripodi.

The rule allows for evidence of acts or words by one of the defendants, in furtherance of an alleged unlawful common purpose, to be used in evidence against the other defendants. This means anything said or done by one of the defendants in prosecution of the alleged unlawful common purpose can be treated as being said or done on behalf of another defendant.

The crown will first have to adduce reasonable evidence that such an unlawful common purpose existed among the defendants.

Just before Justice Martin Burns adjourned the trial to Tuesday for that legal argument Brendan Stevens said he would like to say something.

Elizabeth’s parents Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs. Supplied

“None of us here, the defendants, would disagree with the fact that we had a common purpose,” he said.

“The common purpose was to trust in God and nothing else.

“And none of us are seeking to not be involved in the common purpose, because we would all not like to be seen as not having a common purpose.”

Stevens said his daughter Acacia would be “very disappointed” if she was singled out as not having a common purpose.

Justice Burns said it has “very serious consequences” for Acacia.

“I’ll be assessing her case individually, as I’ll be assessing yours and all the others but I understand what you say,” he said.

Pleas of not guilty have been entered for all defendants.

Originally published as Elizabeth Struhs trial: Alleged sect leader’s remarkable statement in court