Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia · 2025

Elizabeth Struhs: 'The Saints' leader convicted of manslaughter for directing an 8-year-old's parents to stop her insulin

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Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

self-appointed leader of a home-based Christian sect ('The Saints') with authority over the victim's parents and household

Organization

The Saints

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

Stevens led 'The Saints,' a home-based sect built around belief in the healing power of God and rejection of conventional medicine, which some members described as 'witchcraft.' The sentencing judge expressly found that Stevens' authority over the group — not merely Jason Struhs' authority as a parent — was the operative means of Elizabeth's death: Stevens 'procured and aided' the killing by directing and encouraging the father to withhold insulin, and the court held the leader and congregation members criminally liable alongside the parents rather than treating the church context as incidental.

Spiritual healing or treatment
Threatened spiritual consequence
Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2025-01-29 · trial — convicted (judge-only trial)

Supreme Court of Queensland. Justice Martin Burns found Brendan Luke Stevens — leader of the home-based Christian group 'The Saints' — and the child's father Jason Struhs guilty of manslaughter, along with 12 other congregation members including the child's mother and brother, in the January 2022 death of 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs from six days without prescribed insulin for type-1 diabetes. All 14 defendants were convicted; Stevens and Jason Struhs were acquitted of the more serious charge of murder.
2025-02-26 · sentencing

Supreme Court of Queensland. Justice Burns sentenced Stevens to 13 years' imprisonment, describing him as 'a dangerous, highly manipulative individual' who 'procured and aided' the killing by encouraging Jason Struhs to stop providing his daughter's insulin. Other members received lengthy custodial sentences.

Documented coercion mechanisms

doctrinal refusal of medical care
leader's direct instruction to a parent to withhold prescribed treatment

Cited record

Sources

national press news report "14 religious sect members convicted over diabetic girl's death in Australia," CBS News, January 29, 2025.: Reports the judge-only trial verdict convicting all 14 defendants, including leader Brendan Stevens, of manslaughter.
national press news report "Australian sect members who believed God would save dying 8-year-old sentenced," CNN, February 26, 2025.: Reports Stevens' 13-year sentence and the sentencing judge's finding that he 'procured and aided' the killing by directing the father to withhold insulin.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

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Source and tier basis: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/religious-sect-members-convicted-death-diabetic-girl-elizabeth-struhs-australia/ Corpus classification: national-press; evidentiary role: news-report. SHA-256 6cb75bc4d3a3d2c85c0a70db1b050647c7e2d827cbdea24c99553a2c6694f190
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/australia/elizabeth-struhs-sect-sentenced-intl-hnk/index.html Corpus classification: national-press; evidentiary role: news-report. SHA-256 ed5d6af1c77c884187ea77c7b3461808778c7020ca5d016d841eff5e291d5f3f
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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