Jayde Struhs, who escaped Toowoomba group ‘the Saints’ in 2014, delivers victim impact statement as judge considers sentencesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe religious sect members who killed Elizabeth Struhs, including her parents, did so in order to “play God”, the eight-year-old’s eldest sister has told the Brisbane supreme court.Jayde Struhs grew up a member of Toowoomba religious sect “the Saints”, but fled the group, which has been likened to a cult in court, in 2014 after they refused to accept that she was gay and attempted to convince her to renounce her sexuality.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…Jayde Struhs, who escaped Toowoomba group ‘the Saints’ in 2014, delivers victim impact statement as judge considers sentencesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe religious sect members who killed Elizabeth Struhs, including her parents, did so in order to “play God”, the eight-year-old’s eldest sister has told the Brisbane supreme court.Jayde Struhs grew up a member of Toowoomba religious sect “the Saints”, but fled the group, which has been likened to a cult in court, in 2014 after they refused to accept that she was gay and attempted to convince her to renounce her sexuality.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
The religious sect members who killed Elizabeth Struhs, including her parents, did so in order to “play God”, the eight-year-old’s eldest sister has told the Brisbane supreme court.
Jayde Struhs grew up a member of Toowoomba religious sect “the Saints”, but fled the group, which has been likened to a cult in court, in 2014 after they refused to accept that she was gay and attempted to convince her to renounce her sexuality.
Fourteen adult members of the Saints, including Elizabeth’s parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs, were found guilty of her manslaughter last month after a court found that theycaused the death of the type 1 diabetic girl in January 2022 by withdrawing her insulin as a result of their belief that God would intervene to heal her, or raise her from the dead.
“These people only wanted to control my family and myself and everything that we did, feeding off the power it made them feel, eventually pushing my father to his most vulnerable moments, to trust in them so they could play God,” Jayde told the Brisbane supreme court in a victim impact statement on Friday.
She then turned to face the sect members in the dock.
“Your religious narrative cannot hide the unforgivable and irreversible impact you have made on my family. You took Elizabeth’s life. You had no right, and on judgment day, God will see you for what you truly are,” she said.
She said to her parents, “you have a lot to answer for and a lot of accountability to take on”, telling the court that she keeps Elizabeth’s ashes in an urn which now sits in her living room, and also organised Elizabeth’s funeral.
The prisoners had no reaction to her words and did not speak during the two-hour hearing. During part of her victim impact statement her brother, convicted sect member Zachary Struhs, had his head in his hands and was praying.
The 14 defendants were tried as a group in a 58-day trial which concluded last September. They refused to participate in many elements of the trial, including by not being represented by a lawyer, refusing to make a plea, and refusing a pre-sentence report into their mental health. A plea of not guilty was entered on their behalf.
Justice Martin Burnsfound Elizabeth’s father, Jason Struhs, and religious leader Brendan Stevens not guilty of murder by reckless indifference.
Friday’s hearing was the first of two sentencing hearings.
Under Queensland law the defendants face a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
Prosecutor Caroline Marco asked for Elizabeth’s parents to be given the longest sentences, of 15 years’ imprisonment, accompanied by a requirement that they serve 80% of it behind bars.
The sect leader, Brendan Stevens, should serve 12 years’ imprisonment, with the same requirement, Marco argued.
The remaining defendants should serve between 7 and 8 years’ imprisonment, she said. Marco did not apply for the same minimum non-parole requirement.
Justice Burns said it was difficult to see how any sentence could achieve any personal deterrence – of the specific offenders themselves – and other sentencing principles would be more significant.
“The moment they stop believing what they’ve been professing now for a long time, is the moment they realise what they actually did,” Burns said.
“So in terms of personal deterrence, that operates on some level, but we have people here who obstinately refuse to accept as even a prospect that they might have been wrong.”
A prosecution lawyer read out a second victim impact statement written by Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle, Melissa and Adam Struhs, which also represented her grandparents.
“Why did Elizabeth have to be sacrificed? Why couldn’t it have been one of the 14 people who were so determined to prove a point? How can any parent put their own self interest above the health and well being of their precious child?” the statement said.
The statement said the family does not forgive and won’t forget what the guilty sect members have done.
“We don’t wish them peace. We see them for the cowards they are. We will never understand how they are at peace with themselves, knowing that they have taken the life of a child.”
The sect members have repeatedly told the court they believe Elizabeth will rise from the dead.
The guilty sect members are: Jason Struhs, 53, Brendan Stevens, 63, Kerrie Struhs, 49, Zachary Struhs, 22, Loretta Mary Stevens, 67, Andrea Louise Stevens, 34, Acacia Naree Stevens, 31, Camellia Claire Stevens, 28, Therese Maria Stevens, 37, Keita Courtney Martin, 22, Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 34, Samantha Emily Crouch, 26, Sebastian James Stevens, 23, and Alexander Francis Stevens, 26.