A father’s hands shook as he told a judge he was "infuriated" with his daughter’s protests against insulin shots but found peace after accepting God would heal or resurrect her.
Jason Richard Struhs, 53, faced Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday and gave a closing address in the ninth week of his judge-only murder trial.
Struhs' eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth died on January 7, 2022 at her family's home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after six days without her prescribed insulin shots for type-1 diabetes.
Struhs told Justice Martin Burns his daughter "didn’t want to" receive insulin injections and believed in healing through faith, as did her other family members.
"I sat with my daughter and told her the doctors told me if she didn’t have the insulin she would die. We had so many arguments about this," Struhs said.
Struhs, at times tearful and hesitating with emotion, said these arguments over the course of three years left him a "very angry, aggressive man".
"All I got in return was 'God has healed me', which infuriated me. … she stood strong against me knowing she was healed but doing what she was told," he said.
Struhs said it was the "greatest day of my life" on August 30, 2021 when he accepted baptism into a small congregation known as ‘The Saints’ that promised God would heal all illnesses.
"I was filled with great peace ... I received the power of God through the holy spirit ... I was crying, laughing, shaking and then I started praying in this weird language," he said.
He denied he later "succumbed to pressure" from The Saints to withdraw Elizabeth's insulin.
"It was only mine and Elizabeth’s decision to stop the insulin, no one else," Struhs said.
He said he still had faith and God would bring Elizabeth back from the dead.
"To all of you it looks like God has failed. I know that Elizabeth is only sleeping," he said.
Struhs' son Zachary Alan Struhs, 23, and wife Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, joined The Saints years before and also faced trial charged with manslaughter over Elizabeth’s death.
Zachary Struhs said his father had genuine beliefs and was not forced into withdrawing insulin by a "timid wife and a handful of children".
"My dad is not a weak-willed person and there is no way he could have been pressured as alleged," he said.
Mrs Struhs told Justice Burns in her closing address she did not "see the need to say much".
"(The prosecution says) I knew my husband was having thoughts about Elizabeth, that she might die. I didn’t have any knowledge of that at all. All I recognised was that he was struggling," she said.
Another 10 members of The Saints have also been charged with manslaughter over their alleged encouragement to withdraw Elizabeth’s insulin or decision not to call for help when her health rapidly deteriorated.
The leader of The Saints, 62-year-old Brendan Luke Stevens, is charged with murder over the death of Elizabeth.
During an hour-long closing address, Stevens compared Elizabeth to biblical figures who were resurrected by Jesus Christ.
"We do believe Elizabeth’s passing is something God has allowed to bring knowledge of the gospel to the world ... just as Lazarus was raised, we will also see Elizabeth raised again in this life," he said.
Stevens denied ever telling his congregation members to stop taking medication.
"We never pressure people. If they, in their zeal, might have decided 'you won’t be needing this soon', it certainly wasn’t coming from my leadership," he said.
Stevens denied text messages had shown he doubted God would heal Elizabeth, saying he was just "emotionally reacting" to her illness.
All 14 defendants refused to enter pleas and represented themselves at trial.
Justice Burns adjourned the matter until he could reach his verdicts, which he said could take until October or later.
