Queensland child protection authorities have known about the Struhs family's extreme religious beliefs against medical treatment since 2013, a coroner heard at a pre-inquest conference in Brisbane this week. Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on January 7, 2022 at her family's home near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after her parents, brother and 11 other members of 'the Saints' church group gathered to pray around her. Her father had stopped administering insulin shots for her type-1 diabetes.
The most troubling detail to emerge at the pre-inquest hearing is about a decision made in 2019, three years before Elizabeth's death. Elizabeth had come to the attention of police and child protection authorities in July 2019 after her father carried her into an emergency room. Her mother Kerrie Struhs had concealed the severity of her symptoms from undiagnosed and untreated diabetes, and medical experts described Elizabeth as 'being minutes away from death.' Despite this crisis, the decision to return Elizabeth to the family home came in the face of strongly expressed opposition from the child protection and forensic medical service. A medical expert had emailed at the time: 'Elizabeth cannot be safely cared for in a home where her mother resides due to the strong beliefs that she has expressed.'
The parents were convicted of failing to provide Elizabeth the necessities of life in July 2019, with her mother taken into custody. Jason Struhs was spared jail and again promised to treat his daughter's diabetes. However, less than two and a half years later, Elizabeth was dead. He had converted to the Saints after pressure from his wife and adult son; in August 2021 he was baptised via a backyard ceremony and immersion in an improvised trough.
The inquest will address the central accountability question: why did authorities, who possessed clear medical warnings and previous convictions for medical neglect, return the child to this home? The inquest will be looking closely at the evidence to fully understand what happened and what might be done to prevent similar deaths in the future. Some witnesses at the trial testified that the Saints were a 'cult'. Jason Struhs and group leader Brendan Stevens were acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter along with Kerrie Struhs and 13 other members of the Saints after a Supreme Court trial in January 2025.
The inquest into Elizabeth's death will be held over two weeks from October 12. Counsel assisting the coroner noted the decision to return Elizabeth was made in the face of strong opposition from child protection and medical services. Stevens and Jason Struhs had converted to the Saints after pressure from Kerrie Struhs, who had become increasingly committed to the group's rejection of all modern medicine.
This case emerges against a backdrop of documented systemic problems in Queensland's child protection system. There is no single accountable authority for child safeguarding in Queensland. Systemic failures include fragmented responsibilities, siloed intelligence, and an absence of coordinated, proactive action, resulting in risks that are identified but remain unmitigated, often until catastrophic harm is evident.