Members of an Australian religious group are on trial, accused of killing an eight-year-old diabetic girl by denying her medical treatment and offering prayers.
Elizabeth Struhs was found dead in January 2022 after going several days without insulin.
The girl’s parents are among the 14 accused, who they refused to hire lawyers.
All of the accused chose not to apologize.
It is usually considered a declaration of innocence to the court.
They were fully aware
Two men — Elizabeth’s father, Jason Struhs, 52, and the religious group’s leader, Brendan Stevens, 62 — are charged with murder, and prosecutors say they had full knowledge that the group’s actions would kill Elizabeth.
The girl’s mother, Kerrie Struhs, 49, her brother Zachary Struhs, 21, and ten others – ranging in age from 22 to 67 – are charged witha manslaughter.
At the beginning of the trial, prosecutor Caroline Marco noted that Elizabeth was a “smart, spirited child. But she was too young to understand the terrible consequences of her parents’ decision… which she ended up paying for with her own life.”
“I suffered for days”
Marco also said that in early January 2022, the two parents they made the decision to initially reduce the amount of insulin they were giving their daughter and then stop it completely.
The sect members gathered at the house to pray, while it was “visible to all who saw her that Elizabeth’s health was in danger.” But no attempt was made to find a doctor.”
The girl later died after “suffering for days,” the prosecutor said.
The mother served prison time for the same act.
The events occurred while the mother had just been released from prison, after also being convicted of stopping the girl’s insulin supply in 2019.
The 8-year-old then spent a month in the hospital after her father intervened..Jason Struhs has previously disagreed with the group’s beliefs, as was said to the judge, but he was anointed while his wife was in prison.
“He knew that if he didn’t change he would lose his family and his wife, so he put aside the religious beliefs he once had and embraced it,” the prosecutor noted.
During the trial, 60 witnesses will be called, including one of the Struhs’ other daughters, who is estranged from the family.
naftemporiki.gr