Two bereaved parents and 12 fellow members of an Australian religious congregation accused of killing an 8-year-old girl by withholding her diabetes medication have been found guilty of her manslaughter.Elizabeth Rose Struhs died in 2022, at her family’s home in Toowoomba in Queensland state after s

Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on Jan. 7, 2022 at her family’s home in Toowoomba in Queensland state after six days without her prescribed insulin shots for type-1 diabetes.

Her father, Jason Richard Struhs, 53, and the leader of the family’s religious group called “The Saints,” Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, had been charged with the more serious crime of murder, but Queensland Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns found both guilty of her manslaughter.

Burns also found another 12 members of the congregation, including the victim’s mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and the victim’s bother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, guilty of manslaughter. No one charged escaped conviction.

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    48·
    3 days ago

    Speaking on behalf of all defendants at the trial’s opening statements, Stevens argued they held a reasonable belief that God would heal the child. The defendants all represented themselves and each spoke on their own behalf during the closing statements.

    Burns urged them all to get lawyers before they are sentenced.

    Stretching the definition of reasonable to breaking point.