The police have charged 12 members of a religious group with murder in connection with the death of Elizabeth Struhs, 8, of Queensland state several months ago.
The police say she was denied care over a period of days for an underlying medical condition.
After Elizabeth’s death in January, her parents, Jason Struhs, 50, and Kerrie Struhs, 47, were charged with murder, torture and failure to provide necessities of life. They face up to life in prison on the murder charge. They have not yet entered pleas.
On Tuesday, after a six-month investigation, the police charged 12 more people with murder, all members of a small, insular religious group.
Authorities said that those people, who ranged in age from 19 to 65, were with Elizabeth before her death but did not seek help as her condition deteriorated.
The 12 people as well as Elizabeth’s parents were “present during the course of the six days that she was sick,” Detective Acting Superintendent Garry Watts of the Queensland police said Wednesday. “They actively took part in that engagement and they did not provide any medical assistance that the child required over those six days.”
The police said they believe that Elizabeth died on January 7 at her family’s home, but emergency medical workers were not contacted until the afternoon of the following day.
Footage released by the police showed officers raiding a house in Toowoomba early Tuesday and arresting 12 people inside.
Elizabeth’s sister Jayde Struhs, 24, has spoken out against her parents’ religious group.
The oldest of eight children, Jayde Struhs said she left home to distance herself from her parents and the group at age 16 when she realized she was a lesbian.
The group did not celebrate Christmas, believed members’ sole purpose was to serve God and did not accept medical intervention, she said.
“No outside help, no medicines, no Panadol, no doctors, dentists, anything,” she said in an interview. “It was all ‘God will heal.’”
She added that the group said they had no name and just declared themselves to be “the people of God or Jesus.”
She described her sister as a “really bright little 8-year-old” who loved pranks, and said she was diabetic and required insulin. The police have not specified the untreated medical condition that led to Elizabeth’s death.
Members of her extended family were “shattered and heartbroken” when they learned of the death, Jayde Struhs wrote in a GoFundMe she started after Elizabeth’s death to raise money to support her other siblings.
“We have faced the brutal reality that the people who should have protected her did not, and we may never know the full extent of what took place,” she wrote.
Charging 14 people with murder over the death of a single child was highly unusual, Watts said. “I certainly haven’t seen it in my almost 40 years of policing.”
Latest Stories
-
Paris 2024: Opening ceremony showcases grandiose celebration of French culture and diversity
2 hours -
How decline of Indian vultures led to 500,000 human deaths
3 hours -
Paris 2024: Ghana rocks ‘fabulous fugu’ at olympics opening ceremony
3 hours -
Trust Hospital faces financial strain with rising debt levels – Auditor-General’s report
4 hours -
Electrochem lease: Allocate portions of land to Songor people – Resident demand
4 hours -
82 widows receive financial aid from Chayil Foundation
4 hours -
The silent struggles: Female journalists grapple with Ghana’s high cost of living
4 hours -
BoG yet to make any payment to Service Ghana Auto Group
4 hours -
‘Crushed Young’: The Multimedia Group, JL Properties surprise accident victim’s family with fully-furnished apartment
5 hours -
Asante Kotoko needs structure that would outlive any administration – Opoku Nti
6 hours -
JoyNews exposé on Customs officials demanding bribes airs on July 29
6 hours -
JoyNews Impact Maker Awardee ships first consignment of honey from Kwahu Afram Plains
7 hours -
Joint committee under fire over report on salt mining lease granted Electrochem
7 hours -
Life Lounge with Edem Knight-Tay: Don’t be beaten the third time
7 hours -
Pro-NPP group launched to help ‘Break the 8’
8 hours