An “extreme” religious group was reported as a potential danger almost a decade before they killed a young girl by withholding her diabetes medication, a coroner has heard.
asserted
coroner → report → medication
But authorities found no signs of harm after being alerted by the girl’s older sister in 2013, an inquest was told.
asserted
inquest → find → 2013
Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on January 7, 2022, at her family’s home near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after her parents, brother and 11 other members of “the Saints” church group gathered to pray around her.
asserted
parents → die → her
Her father, Jason Richard Struhs, had stopped administering insulin shots for her type-1 diabetes days earlier.
asserted
father → stop → diabetes
Her sister Jayde Struhs on Monday attended the start of a coroner’s inquest into the adequacy and appropriateness of the responses by child safety, health and other government agencies prior to Elizabeth’s death.
asserted
sister → attend → death
Jayde Struhs knew nothing of what was going on at the time of her sister’s death after fleeing the family home for Brisbane about eight years earlier, aged 16.
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what → know → Brisbane
However, she triggered the Struhs family’s first contact with child protection services in 2013, the coroner was told.
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coroner → trigger → 2013
Jayde Struhs had told her school nurse her parents “had become involved in an extreme religion based on the Bible”, counsel assisting Simon Hamlyn-Harris said on Monday.
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counsel → tell → Monday
He asked the first witness, a department of child safety manager who can’t be named for legal reasons, about the initial contact with authorities.
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who → ask → authorities
“Jayde was concerned for herself and her siblings about the controlling nature of the religion, concerns about things she was required to believe?” he asked.
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he → control → things
The manager agreed.
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manager → agree → ?
Elizabeth’s mother Kerrie Struhs had been a member of “the Saints” for years and had refused to seek medical or dental treatment for her daughters, believing that God would heal them, the coroner heard.
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coroner → refuse → them
Jayde Struhs was “at a point where she wanted to get out”, Mr Hamlyn-Harris said.
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Harris → want → point
But the manager said no harm was identified and the then-girl’s report didn’t amount to a “detrimental effect of significant nature” or require a child-safety notification.
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report → say → notification
The system had since changed, and staff now relied more on professional judgement than prescriptive guidelines, the coroner heard.
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coroner → change → guidelines
Elizabeth almost died in 2019 after her mother refused to seek treatment for the six-year-old’s then-undiagnosed type-1 diabetes.
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mother → die → diabetes
Her father eventually took his unconscious daughter to hospital but, by January 2022, had been convinced to stop Elizabeth’s insulin.
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father → take → insulin
Elizabeth rapidly became unwell, was unable to speak and fell into unconsciousness.
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Elizabeth → become → unconsciousness
She died on a mattress on her living room floor after her parents and 12 other Saints members gathered around her to pray and sing.
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parents → die → her
The Saints claimed Elizabeth would be healed or resurrected from death.
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Elizabeth → claim → death
Elizabeth’s parents in 2025 received 14-year jail terms at Brisbane Supreme Court after being found guilty of manslaughter.
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parents → receive → manslaughter
The Saints leader Brendan Stevens was jailed for 13 years and described as a “highly dangerous individual” by Justice Martin Burns.
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leader → jail → Burns
Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard on Monday acknowledged the loss of Jayde Struhs and her family was made worse by public scrutiny, including through the inquest.
asserted
loss → acknowledge → inquest
“However, this is an opportunity to identify how we could have better protected Elizabeth,” she said.
uncertain
she → identify → Elizabeth
The inquest is due to run for two weeks.
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inquest → run → weeks
The Aporia
