Family and church guilty of manslaughter of young girl
Fourteen people have been found guilty of manslaughter after claiming religious beliefs caused them to withhold an eight-year-old girl’s diabetes medication.
The parents and 12 members of a religious congregation accused of killing an eight-year-old girl by withholding her diabetes medication have been found guilty of manslaughter.
Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on January 7, 2022, at her family’s home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after six days without her prescribed insulin shots for type-1 diabetes.
The girl’s father, Jason Richard Struhs, 53, faced a judge-only trial for murder by reckless indifference to life in Queensland’s Supreme Court over nine weeks starting in July 2024.
Struhs was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter.
The 14 defendants appeared in court on Wednesday with the women wearing blue jail uniforms and the men in casual clothes.
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Elizabeth’s adult sister, Jayde Struhs, was in court to watch the verdicts being handed down along with police officers and detectives.
The leader of the family’s religious group, Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, also faced a murder charge during the same trial before Justice Martin Burns.
Justice Burns also found Stevens not guilty of murder but guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter.
Stevens said “no, not that I can think of,” when asked if he wished to say anything.
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Elizabeth’s 49-year-old mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, and 22-year-old brother Zachary Alan Struhs faced trial for manslaughter along with 10 other members of “The Saints” congregation.
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 defendants represented themselves and refused to enter pleas.
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.
All defendants were asked to stand one by one in court on Wednesday and Justice Burns told each of them they had been found guilty of manslaughter.
Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Sebastian James Stevens, 24, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, Camellia Claire Stevens, 29, Andrea Louise Stevens, 35, Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Acacia Naree Stevens, 32, Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, and Keita Courtney Martin, 24 were the other religious group members on trial.
All 14 defendants will be sentenced on February 11.
“The length of the judgment will need to be considered. I have again urged the prisoners to seek legal representation,” Justice Burns said.
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