SYDNEY: A judge jailed 14 members of a fringe Australian religious group on Wednesday over the “slow and painful” death of an eight-year-old diabetic girl who was denied life-saving insulin.

The father and mother of Elizabeth Rose Struhs, as well as the leader and other members of the Saints sect, were convicted of manslaughter last month in the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane.

The small, home-based church in the Queensland city of Toowoomba held a “core belief” in the healing power of God, leaving no room for medical care or treatment, the court found. The girl died of ketoacidosis — a severe complication of diabetes — after her insulin medication was halted for days.

“Elizabeth suffered a slow and painful death, and you are all, in one way or another, responsible,” Justice Martin Burns said in a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. The mother Kerrie Struhs and father Jason Struhs were each sentenced to 14 years in prison. Both had been found guilty of abdicating their duty of care to their daughter.

“Elizabeth’s death was, and remains, profoundly disturbing, if for no other reason than that it was so entirely and easily preventable,” Burns said.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2025