‘Going to see it’: Faith healer’s bold claim

Published July 22, 2024 By admin with Comments 0

The leader of a faith-healing religious circle charged with a diabetic girl’s murder said the child was “going to be healed”, with the group calling her condition an “elephant in the room” in the years before her death.

Fourteen members of the cult-like group known as The Saints are on trial in Brisbane Supreme Court over the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs, who was found dead in her family’s Rangeville home in early 2022.

It is alleged members of the group, which include the girl’s parents Jason Richard Struhs, 57, and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, withheld her insulin medication for several days until she died between January 6-7 that year.

Mr Struhs is charged with murder and Ms Struhs is charged with manslaughter.

Brendan Stevens, 62, the leader of The Saints, is facing a charge of murder.

Eleven others, including Elizabeth’s elder brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 21, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67 – the wife of Brendan Stevens – and her adult children Acacia Naree Stevens, 31, Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Sebastian James Stevens, 23, Andrea Louise Stevens, 34, Camellia Claire Stevens, 28, and Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34 and his wife Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, and a third woman, Keita Courtney Martin, 22, are also charged with manslaughter.

All 14 have pleaded not guilty to their charges.

The court has already heard evidence of the group’s rejection of medical treatment and care, instead professing to believe God heals all ailments.

In calls recorded by Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre, Brendan is heard speaking to Kerrie about how her husband was slowly beginning to embrace his new-found faith in 2021.

Content retrieved from: https://au.news.yahoo.com/going-see-faith-healer-bold-043258674.html.