The parents of an eight-year-old Australian girl – and 12 other members of their hardline religious sect – have been found guilty of her manslaughter after withholding her diabetes medication.
Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on 7 January 2022 at home in Toowoomba, Queensland, after six days without insulin injections for her type 1 diabetes.
Her father Jason Struhs, 53, mother Kerrie Elizabeth, 49, brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, and the leader of the family’s religious group The Saints, Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, were among the 14 convicted over her death.
During the nine-week trial last year, the jury heard the faith healing group, which has been described by many in Australia as a cult, withheld her medication on purpose – believing God would save her.
After his arrest, Elizabeth Struhs’s father told a police officer: “I’m not jumping up and down in joy, but I’m at peace.
“I don’t feel sorry, I feel happy because now she’s at peace and so am I… she’s not dependent on me for her life now. I’m not trapped by diabetes as well.”
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Both he and Stevens were initially charged with murder – but Queensland Supreme Court judge Martin Burns found them guilty of manslaughter instead.
He said the prosecution had failed to prove the pair had shown reckless indifference to life.
“There remained a reasonable possibility that, in the cloistered atmosphere of the church which enveloped Struhs… that he [the father] never came to the full realisation Elizabeth would probably die,” the judge said.
But he found both Elizabeth’s parents had shown an “egregious departure from the standard of care”, with the support and encouragement of the other defendants, he said.
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Elizabeth’s older sister Jayde Struths told reporters outside court on Tuesday: “Although we had a good outcome today, I have to acknowledge the system failed to protect Elizabeth in the first place.
“We are only here today because more wasn’t done sooner to protect her or remove her from a credibly unsafe situation in her own home.”
All 14 have been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on 11 February.
They face life in prison – with the judge urging them to employ lawyers before the sentencing.
