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An Australian couple has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter after their eight-year-old diabetic daughter, Elizabeth Struhs, died from lack of insulin. The parents, members of The Saints religious sect, denied her the life-saving medication for nearly a week, believing God would heal her from the type 1 diabetes she was diagnosed with in 2019.
She died from diabetic ketoacidosis, which causes a dangerous build-up of ketones - a type of acid - and blood sugar spikes at her home in Toowoomba west of Brisbane in January 2022.
Her father Jason Struhs and mother Elizabeth Struhs, were among 14 people convicted of manslaughter last month.
The Saints' leader Brendan Stevens has been jailed for 13 years by the judge at the Supreme Court of Queensland, who called him a "dangerous, highly manipulative individual".
Eleven other members were handed jail terms of six to nine years. Stevens and the girl's father had been on trial for murder but they were convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter. All had pleaded not guilty.
Elizabeth would have endured vomiting, extreme lethargy, and a loss of consciousness because she was denied medical care, prosecutor Caroline Marco said during the trial, which lasted several months and was heard by a judge sitting alone without a jury.
Prosecutors called 60 witnesses and painted a picture of an "intelligent" child who suffered greatly in her final days. The congregation, meanwhile, had prayed and sung for the girl as she laid on a mattress and her condition deteriorated.
Believing she could be brought back to life, the sect member made no effort to call a doctor, and authorities were not notified until 36 hours after her death, the court heard.
Stevens, 63, had defended the group's actions as faith-based and described the trial as an act of "religious persecution". He said that the group was within its "rights to believe in the word of God completely".
The Saints are not affiliated with an established church in Australia and count around two dozen members from three families among its members.
