Fourteen members of a church group have been described as wanting to 'play God' as they watched a young girl slowly die withholding her life-saving medication, a judge has heard.
Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs passed away on January 7, 2022 at her family's home in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after her parents, brother and 11 others prayed for her.
'The Saints' were described as a 'religious group' by Australian Associated Press who reported the story.
The 14 defendants faced the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday for the start of their sentencing.
The defendants represented themselves at trial, refused to enter pleas and claimed they were acting on their religious beliefs which included rejecting modern medicine as 'witchcraft'.
Elizabeth's eldest sister Jayde read from her victim impact statement and said her parents had been 'led off the righteous path' into extreme religious beliefs.
'Elizabeth Rose Struhs was an innocent child. She was my sister. Now she's dead. She's never coming back. There was no accident,' she said.
'She died because the people who loved her were indoctrinated.'
She said she had placed a lot of faith in her father Jason Richard Struhs, aged 53, to protect Elizabeth from the Saints' leader Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, and his wife Loretta Mary Stevens, 67.
Elizabeth had slipped in and out of consciousness, suffered unquenchable thirst and lost the ability to talk during the six days without her prescribed insulin for type-1 diabetes. As the girl's condition worsened she died of diabetic ketoacidosis.
According to www.news.com.au the group believed God would heal her and when she died and remained convinced she would rise again.
Jason Struhs and the Stevens couple were among 14 members of the fringe faith-healing congregation were found guilty of manslaughter on January 31.
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco said the 14 defendants could have easily sought medical help for Elizabeth as she suffered.
'Their belief in God's healing should have been dispelled when Elizabeth became more unwell,' she said.
'They arrogantly and stubbornly allowed faith to wilfully blind them.'
The prosecutor suggested a sentence of 15 years for Elizabeth's father. Ms Marco submitted that Jason and Kerrie Struhs should be imprisoned for 15 years, and Brendan Stevens should be sentenced to 12 years as the 'main instigator'. She added that the rest of the defendants should be sentenced to between seven and eight years.
Justice Martin Burns said he would reserve his decision on sentences until after February 24.