Testimony before a coroner's inquest revealed that the religious organisation had been the subject of a potential-threat assessment nearly ten years before the death of a young girl, whose diabetes went untreated when her medication was withheld from her.

On 7 January 2022, Elizabeth Rose Struhs, aged eight, died at the family home near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, while her parents, a brother, and eleven other members of a church group known as "the Saints" held a prayer gathering around her. Insulin injections for the girl's type-1 diabetes had gone unadministered for several days before her death, a decision attributed to her father, Jason Richard Struhs.

Jayde Struhs was present on Monday when a coroner's inquest opened to examine whether child safety, health, and other government agencies responded adequately and appropriately in the period leading up to Elizabeth's death. At the time her sister died, Jayde Struhs had no awareness of what was unfolding at the family home, having left for Brisbane around eight years prior at the age of sixteen.

The coroner heard evidence that her actions in 2013 brought the Struhs family to the attention of child protection services for the first time. Counsel assisting Simon Hamlyn-Harris told the hearing on Monday that Jayde Struhs had disclosed to her school nurse that her parents had taken up a Bible-based religion.

Testimony at the inquest established that, upon responding to the alarm Jayde raised in 2013, those present found no evidence pointing to harm having been done to her.

Questioning the first witness — a child safety department manager whose identity is protected by a suppression order — counsel put it to her that Jayde had expressed concern, on behalf of herself and her siblings, about the degree of control exercised by the religion she had been raised in, including what she had been expected to accept as belief. The manager agreed.

Evidence put before the coroner established that Kerrie Struhs, Elizabeth's mother, had belonged to the group known as "the Saints" over a number of years and had chosen not to seek medical or dental care for her daughters, holding to a belief that divine healing would intervene on their behalf. According to Mr Hamlyn-Harris, Jayde Struhs had reached a point where leaving had become her intention.

The manager's assessment held that no harm had been found and that the report fell short of what would constitute a "detrimental effect of significant nature" or trigger a child-safety notification requirement. Testimony before the coroner indicated that procedural guidelines had given way to a greater reliance on professional judgement as the relevant practices evolved.

At six years old in 2019, Elizabeth had type-1 diabetes that remained both undetected and untreated, her mother having opted against medical attention during a period when the condition placed the child's health at genuine risk. By January 2022, her father had transported his unconscious daughter to hospital, yet had since been persuaded to withdraw Elizabeth's insulin treatment.

Her speech deteriorated first, followed by her awareness, as her condition worsened at a pace that gave little time for intervention. Surrounded by her parents and twelve fellow members of the Saints, Elizabeth died while prayers and singing took place around her, her body resting on a mattress placed across the living room floor. Members of the Saints put forward the belief that Elizabeth would recover from her illness or be brought back from death.

Both of Elizabeth's parents received fourteen-year prison terms after a manslaughter verdict was returned against them at Brisbane Supreme Court in 2025. Brendan Stevens, identified in court as the leader of the Saints, received a thirteen-year custodial sentence after Justice Martin Burns characterised him in judicial remarks as posing a considerable threat to public safety.

Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard, speaking on Monday, noted that public scrutiny — including the inquest process itself — had compounded the grief of Jayde Struhs and her family, while framing the proceedings as a chance to examine what protections for Elizabeth might have been strengthened. Proceedings at the inquest are scheduled to extend across a fortnight.