In Queensland, Australia, in a town ironically known as Toowoomba -a Kiswahili word meaning to pray, there was a religious sect known as the Saints. The town was described as having long, colourful array of sectarian Christian groups and independent churches of various kinds. The Saints initially attended the Revival Centres International Church in Brisbane, but broke away after Brendan Stevens, their spiritual leader failed to become a pastor at the Revival Church. They then formed their own parish and held sermons at his house, multiple times a week.
The sect did not ascribe to any religious denomination and were not affiliated to any established church in Australia, although they saw themselves as Christians who followed the Bible. The Saints appeared to be one of these small independent churches, which were formed around a few families. The sect had roughly two dozen members from three families. The Saints believed that through prayer, a person could receive the Holy Spirit, which would enable them to speak in tongues. A central tenet of their faith was the healing power of God, and they rejected conventional medicine, which some members described as witchcraft.
One of the members of the sect was a one Mrs Kerrie Struhs. In 2019, Kerrie’s daughter, Elizabeth Strus, a six-year-old girl, then, was admitted to hospital, after having lost a lot of weight. She had also become too weak to walk. She later lapsed into coma, which was diagnosed as diabetic coma, a complication of type 1 diabetes.
Her family was told she would need daily insulin injections. Her parents, Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Struhs, were charged over this incident as a case of child neglect, but Struh testified against his wife and received a more lenient sentence, as he openly expressed regret for letting his daughter down. He told court that his wife belonged to a religious group that did not believe in providing medical treatment for their children for religious reasons.
Elizabeth’s mother was jailed and in her absence Struh provided the daughter with insulin. He, however, joined the church in August 2021 and became a firm believer in its teachings. On January 2, 2022, he declared to a church meeting that God had healed Elizabeth of her diabetes.
That night, Elizabeth had one last dose of slow acting insulin and the next morning, her glucose levels were so normal that he became convinced God had intervened and healed her daughter. He told his daughet to put away her glucometer because she did not need it anymore. Glucometers are used to measure the amount of glucose in blood and these readings are then used to determine if a dose of insulin is needed or not.
Elizabeth used hers for the last time on January 3. Members of the sect were ecstatic and praised God for the miraculous development. Over the next four days, church members took turns monitoring Elizabeth’s condition, sitting by her bedside as she steadily deteriorated. They shared text message updates, with some describing her as restless. She was also reported to be vomiting and fairly weak. The leader of the sect, Brendan Stevens, repeatedly assured Elizabeth’s parents and other sect members that God would prevail, prompting the sect members to pray, sing and talk about the goodness of God. No effort was, however, made to call a doctor.
One text message between the sect members was to the effect that although Elizabeth did not appear to be breathing, they hoped to see a miracle very soon. To them God could do anything. Even when the patient stopped breathing in the early hours of January 7, the group gathered around her, singing hymns and praying for her to be raised from the dead by God. Struh finally called emergency services, 36 hours after his daughter’s death, telling others that while God had power to resurrect Elizabeth, they could not leave a corpse in the house.
When police arrived at the house, they set up a crime scene, ushering the sect members outside. One detective later told court that when she arrived, she saw about 20 people in the front yard playing music, singing and praying. Elizabeth’s father, Jason Struhs and the group’s leader Brendan Luke Stevens were charged with murder by reckless indifference and the other 12 members, including Elizabeth’s mother and brother, were charged with the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The prosecution failed to find evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the 12 knew that Elizabeth would probably die. The 14 defendants, aged between 22 and 67, represented themselves at trial, having all refused legal representation or to enter pleas. The court was required to enter “not guilty” pleas on their behalf. Most of them were charged because they either counselled or aided Struhs in his decision to withhold Elizabeth’s insulin.
Brendan Stevens defended the sect’s action as faith-based and described the trial as an act of religious prosecution. He said that the group was within its rights to believe in the word of God completely and that their decision not to enter pleas was because the congregation had no intention of fighting the case by using law. Jason Struhs, in his defence, said he and Elizabeth had, together, agreed to stop the insulin and that he still believed his daughter would be resurrected. Witnesses described the congregation as having increasingly strict views including the shunning of that mainstream healthcare.
Court found 14 members of the small religious sect guilty of the manslaughter of the eight-year old Elizabeth, who died after they withheld insulin needed to treat her diabetes because of their unwavering belief that God would heal her. Court ruled that instead of seeking medical help as Elizabeth laid dying, the sect members turned to prayer and singing and maintained a vigil around her bed. Court was perturbed that even after Elizabeth had stopped breathing, members of the sect sought divine intervention to raise her from the dead.
The judge ruled that Elizabeth’s death was inevitable after the group failed to administer insulin or seek medical help as she lay dying over six days. The judge observed that due to a singular belief in the healing power of God, which to the minds of Elizabeth’s parents and other members of the Church, left no room for recourse to any form of medical care or treatment.
Elizabeth was deprived of the one thing that would most definitely have kept her alive, insulin. Court found convicted all the 14 defendants guilty of manslaughter, given that they jointly involved themselves in a crime that resulted in the death of an innocent girl.
Court, however, ruled that Jason Struhs and Brendan Stevens could not be convicted of murder because prosecutors had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the two had intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s elder had this to say after the verdict, “We are only here today because more was not done sooner to protect her (Elizabeth) or remove her from an incredibly unsafe situation in her own home.”
