Elizabeth Rose Struhs: Church group who killed girl asked to meet psychiatrist

Church group members who killed a young girl by withholding her medication will consider psychiatric interviews ahead of their sentencing.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on January 7, 2022 at her family’s home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after six days without her prescribed insulin shots for type-1 diabetes.

Elizabeth’s father, Jason Richard Struhs, 53, mother Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, were among 14 members of a church group who on January 31 were found guilty of manslaughter.

The religious group dubbed “The Saints” was led by Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, who was also found guilty following a judge-only trial in Queensland’s Supreme Court.

The 14 defendants again faced court in Brisbane on Tuesday for a review of their case’s progress.

Dressed in jail uniforms, the defendants were divided by gender and appeared via two separate videolinks from different prisons.

Justice Martin Burns asked the defendants if they would consider participating in creating pre-sentence reports for each of them that would assist in determining an appropriate sentence.

“I don’t know a great deal about the antecedence of the prisoners apart from what I have learned in the police interviews,” Justice Burns said.

The defendants represented themselves at trial and refused to enter pleas.

Justice Burns told the defendants that the pre-sentence reports would include one-on-one interviews with a psychiatrist.

“Pre-sentence reports are commonly arranged by legal representatives of a prisoner especially where there is some kind of underlying psychological condition or special vulnerability on the part of the prisoner,” Justice Burns said.

“Those reports are taken into account as part of the sentencing exercise, usually in a way that has a reducing effect on the sentence.”

Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco has stated as part of the sentencing process that “there is no evidence that any of the defendants were suffering from a psychiatric abnormality or mental condition before or after the offences”.

Justice Burns previously heard at the manslaughter trial that The Saints had stopped giving Elizabeth insulin in line with their belief that modern-medicine was “witchcraft” and doctors and dentists must be avoided.

“If you don’t want a pre-sentence report and are not prepared to co-operate in that process, it would be pointless to order a report to be prepared ... in which case we can expedite the sentence hearing,” the judge said.

Defendant Camellia Claire Stevens, 29, requested that the group be able to have a virtual meeting among themselves.

Ms Marco told Justice Burns that corrective services should be able to arrange the meeting within 24 hours.

Justice Burns ordered a review on February 14 but he would aim to instead hold the sentencing on February 13 if all the defendants declined to participate in pre-sentence reports.

Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Sebastian James Stevens, 24, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, Andrea Louise Stevens, 35, Alexander Francis Stevens, 26, Acacia Naree Stevens, 32, Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, 26, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, and Keita Courtney Martin, 24 were the other religious group members on trial.