Sect called medicine ‘witchcraft’: court told
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A woman standing trial alongside 13 others over the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs had “very quickly” become a “different person” less than three months after joining the religious group allegedly linked to her death, a court was told.
The Crown has alleged during the trial that Elizabeth died inside her family home in January 2022 after her father Jason Richard Struhs, 52, mother Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and 12 other members of The Saints withheld her insulin medication over several days.
The young girl became more and more unwell until she died sometime between January 6-7 that year.
It is further alleged instead of seeking medical attention for the girl as her health began to fail, the group prayed for God to heal her, believing she would rise again in line with their beliefs.
Mr Struhs and Brendan Stevens, 62, who is the leader of The Saints, are each charged with murder.
Eleven others, including Kerrie Struhs, Elizabeth’s older 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.
Content retrieved from: https://au.news.yahoo.com/sect-called-medicine-witchcraft-court-092605173.html.
