Parents of an eight -year -old diabetic girl in Australia who died after denied her insulin for almost a week were each sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter.
Elizabeth Struhs had received a diabetes of type 1 diabetes, and her family was informed that she would need daily injections of insulin.
Her parents belonged to a religious sect known as saints, who opposed medical care, believing that God would heal her.
She died of diabetic ketoacidosis, which causes a dangerous accumulation of ketones – a type of acid – and peaks of blood sugar at her home in Towoomba west of Brisbane in January 2022.
His father Jason Struhs and his mother Elizabeth Struhs were one of 14 people recognized guilty of manslaughter guilty last month.
The chief of saints, Brendan Stevens, was imprisoned for 13 years by the judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, who called him a “dangerous and very manipulative individual”.
Eleven other members received prison conditions from six to nine years old.
Stevens and the girl’s father had been tried for murder, but they were found guilty of the slightest accusation of guilty manslaughter. All had pleaded not guilty.
By making his verdict of almost 500 pages last month, judge Martin Burns said that even if Elizabeth’s parents were clear and that “each member of the church, including all the other accused” had loved him , their actions had resulted in his death.
“Due to a singular belief in the healing power of God … She was deprived of the only thing that would certainly have kept her alive.”
Elizabeth would have suffered vomiting, extreme lethargy and loss of conscience because she was denied medical care, said prosecutor Caroline Marco during the trial, who lasted several months and was heard by a judge seated Alone without jury.
Prosecutors called 60 witnesses and painted a painting by a “intelligent” child who suffered a lot in his last days.
The congregation, on the other hand, had prayed and sang for the girl as she said to herself on a mattress and her state has deteriorated.
By believing that it could be brought back to life, the member of the sect made no effort to call a doctor and the authorities were only informed 36 hours after his death, the court learned.
“Elizabeth only sleeps, and I will see her again,” his father Jason Struhs said in court.
Stevens, 63, had defended the actions of the group as a confessional and describes the trial as an act of “religious persecution”. He said that the group was in his “rights to believe completely in the Word of God”.
Type 1 diabetes is a disorder in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. It is characterized by uncontrolled high levels of high blood sugar and it can be controlled by injecting insulin.
Elizabeth’s sister Jayde Struhs said she left the saints earlier and fled her family home at the age of 16, after being gay, and was now far away.
She and other witnesses have described the congregation as having strict opinions, including that traditional health care should be avoided and that Christmas and Easter were “pagan” or ungodly festivals.
The saints are not affiliated with a church established in Australia and have around two dozen members of three families among its members.
