I am often amazed at the harm done by religious nutters, particularly when they employ their ‘religion’ as a replacement for medicine. Here is a truly horrific example.
It has been reported that all 14 members of a fringe religious group have been found guilty of the manslaughter of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs, who died after her insulin was withheld at her home in Toowoomba, Queensland.
The group faced a lengthy judge-only trial in Brisbane last year. They all represented themselves in court and refused to enter any pleas. During the trial, the Supreme Court heard the group rejected the medical system and the use of medications and put their full trust in the healing power of God. The prosecution alleged that the girl’s father, Jason Struhs, who had only recently joined the church, acted recklessly when he stopped administering the life-saving medication, as he knew this would likely lead to Elizabeth’s death. The group leader, Brendan Stevens, was accused of encouraging and counselling him to withdraw the insulin.
Justice Martin Burns acknowledged Elizabeth was a happy, vibrant child who was adored by her parents and every member of her church but who, due to their belief in the healing power of God, “left no room for recourse to any form of medical care or treatment, [and] she was deprived of the one thing that would most definitely have kept her alive — insulin”. Justice Burns said Stevens did procure and aid in the unlawful killing of Elizabeth by persuading, encouraging and supporting her father to cease using insulin, and his attempts to claim he didn’t influence him was “arrant nonsense”.
Shortly after Elizabeth’s death, Jason Struhs told police it “felt right” to stop her insulin and she was “as happy as anything”. He told police he made the decision to stop the medication and had said to her, “we are not going to do it anymore”. Subsequently, Elizabeth’s health had deteriorated over several days, and instead of contacting emergency services, the group prayed and sang. They did not contact police until more than 24 hours after she had died. When asked if they had anything to say following the verdicts, all members of the group declined to comment.
After their arrests the group continued to maintain their views, and repeatedly said in police interviews they believed Elizabeth would rise from the dead.
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Cases like this are shocking. Amongst other things, they remind us what consequences may and often will occur, when belief in unreason dominates reason, evidence and science.
11 Responses to The ‘Healing Power of God’: a religious group was found guilty of manslaughter of a diabetic girl
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I believe in God. I believe in pray and I definitely believe in miracles having personaly wittnessed many firsthand in our lives.
That said, I believe in common sense!
Such a tragic and needless death. Sadly one of many who follow such cult like behavior.
God also gave us brains to use . So use them.
Why any need to pray for relief from disease which a vicious, capricious deity inflicted? None of it makes any logical sense.
All cults are a pox and none withstand any critical analysis. Darwinism at work.
Astonishing! I wonder why the state didn’t go for murder – seems to me its more appropriate. How anyone can believe in god right now, I have no idea!
@Dr Colin Bannon
I believe that murder charges require that a killing is intentional as well as done in a sane state of mind. As for the first criterion: I’m pretty sure that the girl’s death was not the primary goal of the people withholding her insulin, even if they could (and probably did) know that death would be a likely outcome of their actions. But premeditated intention to kill can still be hard to prove in cases like this, so this may be why the prosecution settled instead for manslaughter, which is much easier to prove, and still carries hefty punishments.
One could also argue that there was diminished responsibility due to extreme, perhaps even overwhelming religious beliefs, interfering with rational decision-making. And alas, those beliefs are now used by the convicts to absolve themselves from responsibility even after the fact, by maintaining that the girl will be resurrected. So in their twisted views, her death is not really a problem because she isn’t really dead.
As I posted below, the prosecution did not “settle for manslaughter”. Two of the accused were charged with murder, but acquitted of it by the judge in a judge-only trial. I think you’re probably right about the reason for the acquittal, but presumably the Queensland Public Prosecutor thought that a murder charge was likely enough to succeed for them to bring it to court for those two.
@prl
Yes, you are correct – I should have read your comment before posting mine, my apologies.
No problem.
Sentencing hearings have begun. Jail beckons. Update at https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-news/2025/02/14/elizabeth-struhs-sentencing?ahe=84567152f7b2e45240539294576a3f5a14a4ab0afb9b2299229ccfff701e33a5&acid=140475&utm_campaign=PM%20Extra%20-%2020250214&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra&lr_hash=14c23b77f6894580ae5737db90e99d11
Dr Colin Bannon:
They did, for two of them. It’s right there in the article:
They were charged with both murder and manslaughter, but the judge (it was a judge-only trial, I presume at the request of the defendants) acquitted them of murder. The article doesn’t say why, but possibly the judge found that the intent to kill wasn’t proven to the required standard.
The trial has moved on to the pre-sentencing stage, including hearing victim impact statements:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-14/elizabeth-struhs-manslaughter-sentencing-diabetic-the-saints/104920606
Elizabeth Struhs’s parents each sentenced to 14 years jail for her manslaughter
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-26/elizabeth-struhs-manslaughter-religious-group-sentencing/104938208?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=safari
Good to hear that at least justice was done, and that religious beliefs are no excuse for being held fully accountable – which is also reflected in the sentencing.
Thank you for this update.