A group of 14 members from a religious organization called The Saints have been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs. The group allegedly withheld lifesaving insulin from Elizabeth, who suffered from type 1 diabetes, for six days, opting instead to pray for her healing. Justice Burns delivered the verdicts after nearly five months of deliberation.
A group of 14 people accused of killing an eight-year-old Queensland girl by denying her medical care have all been found guilty of manslaughter. Elizabeth Struhs died at her family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on January 7, 2022. Her parents and 12 other members of a religious group called The Saints allegedly withheld her lifesaving insulin for six days. Elizabeth suffered from type 1 diabetes, a chronic, incurable condition that causes little or no insulin production.
It was alleged that The Saints members stopped her medication several days earlier, instead opting to pray to God for her to be healed. She reportedly became unwell and entered a diabetic ketoacidosis before she died. The accused group members, who had all denied the charges, represented themselves in a joint trial before a judge alone. After considering his verdicts for nearly five months, Justice Burns delivered them on Wednesday in a courtroom specially modified to put all 14 defendants on trial at the same time. Elizabeth’s father, Jason Richard Struhs, 51, and The Saints leader Brendan Luke Stevens, 61, were charged with murder but found guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter on Wednesday. Elizabeth’s mother Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 48, and the other accused — Zachary Alan Struhs, Loretta Mary Stevens, Therese Maria Stevens, Andrea Louise Stevens, Acacia Naree Stevens, Camellia Claire Stevens, Alexander Francis Stevens, Sebastian James Stevens, Keita Courtney Martin, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch and Samantha Emily Schoenfisch — were all charged with and found guilty of manslaughter. Stevens spoke for all defendants at the start of the trial and claimed they held a reasonable belief that God would heal Elizabeth in line with the group’s rejection of modern medicine. “This isn’t really a trial about murder of a child as it is religious persecution,” Stevens said. All 14 defendants will be sentenced on February 11. “The length of the judgement will need to be considered. I have again urged the prisoners to seek legal representation,” Burns said
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