Elizabeth Struhs death: 14 found guilty of manslaughter to be sentenced

Members of cult-like religious circle will soon learn their fate after being found guilty of the manslaughter of an eight-year-old girl in their care.

A cult-like religious circle found guilty of manslaughter the manslaughter of a young girl will soon learn their fate as sentencing proceedings begin in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns found the 14 members of the cult-like religious sect known as The Saints, guilty of manslaughter following the death Elizabeth Struhs in early 2022.

The eight-year-old girl had incurable Type 1 diabetes and was found dead in her family home in Rangeville, a suburb of Toowoomba in regional Queensland.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs died in 2022 after he family stopped providing her Type 1 Diabetes medication.

Members of a fringe faith-healing congregation were found guilty of fatally withholding a young girl’s life saving medicine.

Elizabeth’s condition worsened until she died of diabetic ketoacidosis between January 6-7.

The group had a belief that God would heal her and when she died, their beliefs led them to claim she would rise again.

In January, Justice Burns had found Elizabeth’s 53-year-old father, Jason Struhs, and the 63-year-old leader of the “church”, Brendan Stevens, not guilty of murder.

Elizabeth’s mother Krrie Struhs, 49, was charged with manslaughter and also found guilty. .

Elizabeth’s older brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, – the wife of Brendan Stevens – and the couple’s adult children Acacia Naree Stevens, 32, Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Sebastian James Stevens, 24, Andrea Louise Stevens, 35, Camellia Claire Stevens, 29, and Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, and his wife Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, and a third woman, Keita Courtney Martin, 24, were also found guilty of manslaughter.

A sentencing hearing will begin at 10am in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.

The 14 members of The Saints were found guilty at trial following the death of eight-year-old girl Elizabeth Struhs, by withholding her insulin medication.

All 14 defendants had pleaded not guilty to their charges and had refused legal representation during their lengthy trial in 2024.

The Crown contended members of The Saints – including Kerrie Struhs – pressured Jason Struhs to adopt their extreme beliefs surrounding medicine and encouraged him to stay firm in his decision to cease Elizabeth’s insulin.

The Crown relied on texts exchanged between members of the group – including one where Jason said he was “scared” and “lost in thought” after seeing his daughter’s condition deteriorating from January 4, 2022.

Elizabeth’s death was ‘inevitable’

In his judgment Justice Burns noted Elizabeth was a “vibrant, happy child” with her whole life ahead of her, and she was “lovingly cared for” by her parents and “adored” by members of the congregation.

“However, due to a singular belief in the healing power of God which, to the minds of her parents and the other members of the Church left no room for recourse to any form of medical care or treatment, she was deprived of the one thing that would most definitely have kept her alive – insulin,” the judgment states.

“Her death was inevitable once the administration of that drug was abandoned and when, encouraged and supported by the other accused, her parents refused to seek any medical assistance in the days and nights which followed until her death.”

Justice Burns found Jason Struhs could not be found guilty of murder unless he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that at some point between the father’s decision to cease insulin and the time when Elizabeth died, he “knew his failure to provide her with insulin and/or medical care and treatment would probably cause her death.”

“In this respect, it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt Mr Struhs knew of the probability, as opposed to the possibility, of death,” the judgment states.

“Nothing less than a full realisation on his part that Elizabeth would probably die as a consequence of his failure to act would be sufficient to establish murder in this way, that is, murder by reckless indifference to her life.”

Jason Richard Struhs was found guilty of the manslaughter of his daughter Elizabeth Rose Struhs.

His wife Kerrie Struhs was also found guilty of manslaughter.

Justice Burns found there was a “reasonable” possibility Jason Struhs was “so consumed by the particular belief in the healing power of God that he never came to the full realisation Elizabeth would probably die, believing instead that God would not allow that to happen”.

In assessing Brendan Stevens’ charge of manslaughter, Justice Burns ruled: “I could not be satisfied after a consideration of the whole of the evidence admissible against him that Mr Stevens was possessed of the requisite state of mind at any point between the time when the decision was made by Jason Struhs to cease the administration of insulin to Elizabeth and the time when she died.”

Justice Burns was satisfied Kerrie Struhs was guilty of manslaughter by the “complete abdication” of the legal duty she owed to Elizabeth to provide her with a reasonable standard of care.

The others were found guilty of manslaughter because they “counselled and aided the unlawful killing of Elizabeth by intentionally encouraging Jason Struhs to cease providing insulin as well as medical care and treatment to Elizabeth”.

Originally published as Elizabeth Struhs death: 14 found guilty of manslaughter to be sentenced