The leader of a religious group accused of killing an eight-year-old girl by withholding her medication has said the trial was “religious persecution” and that they acted reasonably in accordance with their faith.
Brendan Luke Stevens, 62, was the leader of a Christian group calling itself ‘The Saints’ and is on trial for murder alongside the girl’s father, Jason Richard Struhs, 52, in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
“This is not really a child murder trial but rather a religious persecution,” Stevens said.
The girl’s mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and the other 11 members of the congregation are charged with murder.
Elizabeth Struhs died at her family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on 7 January 2022 after her parents and 12 others allegedly withheld her diabetes insulin medication for six days.
The 14 defendants are representing themselves in the judge-only trial and Stevens told Judge Martin Burns on Friday he wanted to make an opening statement for the defense to give the group’s “perspective.”
The 14 defendants charged with murder or manslaughter have all refused to plead guilty.
“We believe in God. We see that there is hypocrisy in the country in general and we have chosen to walk with God. It is reasonable to believe in God. The prosecution has suggested that it is not reasonable,” Stevens said.
Stevens said the group, which has refused to plead guilty or innocent, has been charged under legislation enacted by Parliament and under the authority of King Charles, both established from the word of God.
“The name of God is invoked from the beginning. We have a right to believe God’s word fully as we do… Woe to those who decree unjust decrees!” Stevens said.
He said the basis of the murder charges – that he and Jason Struhs had acted with reckless indifference to life – had not been used before in Queensland and was a man-made law.
“Who should we follow, God or man? We have chosen God. We don’t worry too much about the final verdict among ourselves,” Stevens said.
Elizabeth Struhs died at her family home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on 7 January 2022 after her parents and 12 others allegedly withheld her diabetes insulin medication for six days.
Police footage from the Toowoomba home after the congregation members were arrested
Judge Burns previously heard that Jason Struhs woke up around 5am on January 8, 2022, praying loudly and rushed downstairs thinking Elizabeth might have been healed by God in accordance with the group’s religious beliefs.
Struhs instead discovered that Elizabeth had stopped breathing and died overnight after suffering increasing symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis over six days after he supposedly stopped giving her insulin.
Weeks earlier, Kerrie Struhs had been released from a five-month prison sentence for failing to seek medical help for Elizabeth’s diabetes symptoms in 2019, which nearly resulted in the girl’s death.
Members of the group exchanged messages after Elizabeth died in 2022, telling each other that God would raise her from the dead.
Friday’s trial was due to feature police and ambulance officers who were first on the scene when Jason Struhs called triple zero after waiting 36 hours as Elizabeth lay dead on a mattress on the floor of the family home.
The trial is expected to continue for another 11 weeks.