‘Gamble on the life of a child’: Judge returns bombshell sentences for cult members convicted of killing Elizabeth Struhs

A judge has lashed a group of fanatical cultists who left a little girl to suffer and die for days after her insulin was withdrawn as gambling “on the life of a child”. Jason Richard Struhs, 53, and Kerie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, are among 14 members of the cult-like group known as The Saints who are due to be sentenced for the manslaughter of Elizabeth Struhs more than three years ago. Elizabeth, 8, died between January 6-7, 2022 in her family’s Rangeville home, a suburb of Toowoomba. In the days prior, Mr Struhs had withdrawn her lifesaving insulin as a test of his newfound faith in God. The Saints believed she had been miraculously healed of type 1 diabetes after she presented with a normal reading, only for her condition to significantly worsen. Instead of phoning an ambulance, seeking medical attention or administering her insulin, members of The Saints instead prayed for God to heal her – right until the moment she died. Justice Burns ordered each of the defendants be taken down to the cells after the sentences were passed. Elizabeth, 8, died between January 6-7, 2022 in her family’s Rangeville home, a suburb of Toowoomba. In the days prior, Mr Struhs had withdrawn her lifesaving insulin as a test of his new-found faith in God. The Saints believed she had been miraculously healed of type 1 diabetes after she presented with a normal reading, only for her condition to significantly worsen. Instead of phoning an ambulance, seeking medical attention or administering her insulin, members of The Saints instead prayed for God to heal her – right until the moment she died. After a mammoth judge-only Supreme Court trial in 2024, Justice Martin Burns found Mr Struhs and Brendan Luke Stevens, 63 – the leader of The Saints – not guilty of Elizabeth’s murder but guilty of her manslaughter. They were the only members of the group to be charged with murder. Ms Struhs, Elizabeth’s elder brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67 – the wife of Brendan Stevens – and the couple’s adult children Acacia Naree Stevens, 32, Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Sebastian James Stevens, 24, Andrea Louise Stevens, 35, Camellia Claire Stevens, 29, and Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, and his wife Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, and a third woman, Keita Courtney Martin, 24, were all found guilty of manslaughter. On Wednesday, all 14 defendants were housed in individual docks at Brisbane Supreme Court, variously dressed in prison-issued uniforms. Ahead of court, they chatted and exchanged glances before Justice Burns entered the courtroom. Jason Struhs, the father of Elizabeth Struhs convicted of his daughter’s manslaughter, talks to detectives on the day Elizabeth was found dead about his decision to stop administering his child’s insulin. All 14 members of the group will be formally sentenced on Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors have asked for 15-year sentences for Jason and Ms Struhs and a 12-year sentence for Brendan Stevens. Terms of 7-8 years have been sought for the other 12 offenders. ‘Gamble on the life of a child’ During his sentencing, Justice Burns briefly summarised the case against each of the defendants – including how each of them followed a “fundamental” tenet of their faith surrounding the healing power of God. He said members of the church harboured “deep contempt” for the medical system as a result. The court was told there had been a “fatal change” in Elizabeth’s environment when Kerrie was released from prison, due to Jason joining the church in 2021. Justice Burns said The Saints exerted considerable pressure on Jason to adopt their beliefs, until he made the fatal decision to stop giving his daughter insulin. “You encouraged Jason Struhs not just to have faith, but to have your faith,” he said. “The end goal was just as clearly intended by you all for Jason Struhs to cease administering insulin to Elizabeth.” Justice Burns said the group “pivoted” from the belief of Elizabeth being healed to believing God had allowed her to pass, and began praying for her to be raised from the dead. “You continue to proclaim that Elizabeth will be raised from the dead in your lifetime,” he said. “Despite your claims to the contrary, Elizabeth suffered greatly until her death. “You allowed your faith to blind you to her plight … you are all, one way or another, responsible.” Justice Burns said Jason and Kerrie always held the responsibility to care for Elizabeth as her parents, and they had “outright refusal” to do so. He said the pair showed “grave moral guilt” and “disregard for human life” by putting their faith ahead of their daughter’s needs. “You have taken the life of a vibrant, happy child who should have gone on to a full life, and the impact of what you did went beyond her death,” Justice Burns said. He said the defendants had tried to distance themselves from the offending – asserting Elizabeth did not want to be on insulin and denying they attempted to pressure Jason Struhs. “Elizabeth’s was and remains profoundly disturbing, if not for the fact that it was entirely preventable,” Justice Burns said. “What you did was gamble on the life of a child.” The group’s prospects of rehabilitation were described as “bleak”. Why dad found not guilty of murder During the trial, the court was told Jason had resisted the beliefs of The Saints for 17 years until he eventually succumbed when his wife was jailed for five months in 2021. Both parents had been charged with failing to supply Elizabeth with the necessaries of life after she almost died from the condition in 2019. Jason pleaded guilty to the charge and escaped with a suspended jail term, but Ms Struhs was found guilty following a trial at Toowoomba District Court. Fearing he would lose his family and confronted after Zachary broke down over their relationship, Jason joined The Saints in August 2021. In the following months, he succumbed to the group’s pressure surrounding their faith-healing beliefs – leading to Elizabeth’s withdrawal of insulin in January 2022 as a test of his faith. By this time, Ms Struhs had only been out of prison for a few weeks. In his lengthy judgment, Justice Burns said he could only be satisfied Jason was guilty of murder if he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that at some point between Jason’s decision to cease insulin and the time when Elizabeth died, he “knew his failure … would probably cause her death”. “In this respect, it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt Mr Struhs knew of the probability, as opposed to the possibility, of death,” the judgment states. Justice Burns said Jason was “so consumed” by the group’s particular belief in God’s healing power in the “cloistered atmosphere of the church” that he “never came to the full realisation Elizabeth would probably die, believing instead that God would not allow that to happen”. Kerrie Struhs, the mother of Elizabeth Struhs convicted of her daughter’s manslaughter, explains to detectives what happened over the week her eight-year-old child died. Justice Burns said similar considerations applied in the case of Brendan Stevens, who was also charged with murder alongside Jason. “I could not be satisfied after a consideration of the whole of the evidence admissible against him that Mr Stevens was possessed of the requisite state of mind at any point between the time when the decision was made by Jason Struhs to cease the administration of insulin to Elizabeth and the time when she died,” the judgment states. The others were found guilty of manslaughter because they “counselled and aided the unlawful killing of Elizabeth by intentionally encouraging Jason Struhs to cease providing insulin as well as medical care and treatment to Elizabeth”. Justice Burns lashed the other defendants for advancing the “fiction” that they claimed they did nothing more than encourage Jason to believe in God. “The other frequent claim was that they were the subject of a religious persecution despite the whole case being concerned with the refusal on the part of Jason and Kerrie Struhs to fulfil a duty cast on every person in this state who has the care of a child under the age of 16 years,” he said in the judgment. Defiant cult’s smirks, shrugs From the moment of their arrests to their convictions, all 14 defendants have refused to seek legal representation despite multiple requests from the court. The Saints repeatedly giggled, laughed and scoffed during the first few days of the trial as evidence against them was presented. Upon verdicts being reached in January, they simply shrugged and said nothing in response. During their submissions, they denied having intent to kill Elizabeth and relied on rambling submissions that they regarded the trial as “religious persecution”. Others argued the child was not actually dead and she was instead “sleeping”. NED-12954 Elizabeth Struhs timeline During a sentencing hearing on February 14, Jayde Struhs stared down her parents as she said she was “not afraid” to speak up. “From a young age I was told there were severe consequences to speak up or have opinions,” Jayde told the congregation. “I say this, I see you, and I see what you are, what you have done and what you have caused.” Jayde went on to say there was “no great plan” or “destiny” for her younger sister to die – only that the people supposed to take care of her failed. Therese Stevens, one of the women charged with causing the death of Elizabeth Struhs, rails against the medical system during her interview with police. “These people only wanted to control my family and myself and everything that we did, feeding off the power it made them feel and eventually pushing my father to his most vulnerable moments to put his trust in them so they could play God,” she said. “Your religious narrative cannot hide the unforgivable and irreversible impact you have made on my family. “You took Elizabeth’s life. You had no right, and on judgment day, God will see you for what you truly are.” NED-12925 Elizabeth Struhs defendants