Jayde Struhs, older sister of slain 8yo Elizabeth Struhs, sues state for psychiatric injury after cult death tragedy
Explosive details about a young girl being left to die at the hands of religious fanatics were revealed in a $750,000 lawsuit filed by her sister.
Jayde Struhs is suing the Queensland state government for damages arising from the psychiatric injury she suffered following the death of 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs in January 2022.
The teenager had type 1 diabetes and died along with her parents, Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, along with 12 other members of the cult-like Christian group known as “The Saints”, after withdrawing her life-saving insulin medication.
The group held extreme views on faith healing and chose to pray for God to heal Elizabeth rather than seek medical help, encouraging Jason Struhs to remain firm in his decision to stop practicing medicine.
Elizabeth’s condition declined for days until her death on January 6-7, 2022.
All 14 members of the Saints were found guilty of his manslaughter after a massive trial in 2024.
Jayde Struhs, who has distanced herself from the group and has not been charged with any crimes related to her sister’s death, first filed the lawsuit in the Supreme Court in late 2024.
In court documents obtained by NewsWire, Jayde’s legal team, Shine Lawyers, claims that it learned of its sister’s death from media reports on January 11, 2022.
“As a result of hearing about his sister’s preventable death, the plaintiff suffered a psychiatric injury,” Lucinda Nel, who represents Jayde, writes in a notice of claim.
“It was always reasonably foreseeable that persons with a close and loving family connection to Elizabeth Struhs, such as Plaintiff (Jayde Struhs), would suffer psychiatric injury if Elizabeth suffered a painful, protracted, preventable and unlawful death as a result of her parents denying her life-saving medications and medical attention.”
The claim argues that the state had a duty of care to “take all reasonable steps not only to prevent foreseeable harm” to Elizabeth but also to “prevent such harm and death from occurring” to Jayde.
The legal team claims the state violated this by not removing Elizabeth from her parents’ custody after they were both convicted of gross negligence regarding Elizabeth’s diabetes treatment and “failed to adequately investigate or monitor the behavior and religious beliefs of Kerrie and Jason Struhs,” among other violations.
A plea has not yet been filed and the case has remained at administrative level since late 2024.
Originally working at Bunnings Warehouse, following her sister’s death, Jayde moved from permanent part-time work to a temporary job and stopped working altogether.
He tried to return to work providing ground handling services at Brisbane Airport, but stopped working again in September 2023.
Allegedly, Jayde has not worked since then.
“The plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer from grief, trauma, demoralization, stress, anxiety and insomnia. He also suffered neck pain, which he attributed to the ongoing stress,” Ms. Nel said in the claim.
In a letter to Crown Law dated 20 August 2024, Ms Nel requested documents and information regarding Elizabeth’s care before the beginning of 2022.
In a legal statement issued in response, attorney Samantha Brown responded by stating that concerns about the Struhs family were first received through government services on August 29, 2013.
Brendan Luke Stevens, leader of The Saints, explodes during an interview with detectives about Elizabeth’s condition in the final days of her life in early 2022.
The Department of Child Safety began formal investigations and assessments in July 2019 after Elizabeth nearly died from undiagnosed diabetes.
A departmental meeting with both Struhs’ parents and Queensland Children’s Hospital staff said: “Kerrie maintained that she would not provide treatment to Elizabeth but would not prevent Jason from providing treatment.”
NED-12954 Elizabeth Struhs timeline
Elizabeth’s pediatrician stated that Kerrie “appeared to be delusional, not just religious fanatic” and required a mental health evaluation.
The legal declaration states that Child Safety recorded a result of “Confirmed – child in need of protection – Ongoing Intervention (IPA)” for Elizabeth after completing the investigation on 20 August 2019.
However, the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team’s case on Elizabeth was closed after just nine days.
Several more interviews and visits were held with the Struhs family until December 13, 2019, before the department officially closed the case.
Further concerns arose after Jason and Kerrie Struhs were accused of failing to provide Elizabeth with life necessities in March 2020.
NED-12925 Elizabeth Struhs defendants
No further concerns regarding Elizabeth or her family were received between March 17, 2020 and January 7, 2021.
On January 8, 2022, Child Safety was alerted to the death of Elizabeth at the family home in Rangeville.
A medical examiner will examine possible issues with Elizabeth’s protective needs before her death and state authorities’ contact with the Struhses.
At a pre-inquest conference on Thursday, the court was told hospital staff who treated Elizabeth in 2019 had raised concerns about the child returning to the Struhs family.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Simon Hamlyn-Harris, told the court Child Safety staff did not share that view because they were confident they could trust Jason Struhs to meet his daughter’s medical needs safely.
