Elizabeth Struhs's mother trusted God would 'heal' 8yo, inquest hears

A coroner has heard details of Kerrie Struhs's meeting with a probation officer less than a month before her daughter Elizabeth died of untreated diabetes in early 2022.

The eight-year-old died in her Toowoomba home in January 2022 after her father, Jason Struhs, stopped providing her with insulin for her type 1 diabetes following his conversion to the same religious sect as his wife.

An inquest is underway in front of Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, to determine the appropriateness of the responses by a range of authorities leading up to her death.

An unnamed Queensland Corrections officer, whose identity is subject to a non-publication order, was questioned today over her meeting with Elizabeth's mother Kerrie in December 2021, after Kerrie had served a prison sentence for child neglect.

That charge related to Elizabeth being brought into hospital in a comatose state with late-stage diabetic ketoacidosis, before she was diagnosed with the disease in mid-2019. She was six years old at the time.

Kerrie told the officer during her Immediate Risk Assessment (IRA) on December 16, 2021, she did not believe that had Elizabeth not been taken to hospital, she would have died — stating she would "keep that trust in God that He would heal [Elizabeth]".

The officer also told the court today that Kerrie looked "uncomfortable" and "uneasy" when she was told mandatory counselling sessions could form part of her probation conditions. 

Kerrie denied the family had any current involvement with the Department of Child Safety.

She told the officer that despite her religious beliefs, she would not interfere with Elizabeth's father Jason Struhs, administering Elizabeth's insulin to her. The officer said it would not have been standard practice for her to contact Jason to verify this was correct.

While Kerrie was in jail, Jason had converted to the same religion as his wife and began withholding Elizabeth's medication in the weeks that followed. Elizabeth died some time between January 6 and January 7, 2022.

The Department of Corrections did not engage with Child Safety between December 2021 and January 2022, as "concerns were below the threshold" to trigger beliefs of a child being at risk of harm.

The officer said she did not know if she would have approached the case any differently, if given the chance.

The officer told the court today that when she searched for information about Kerrie on the Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS), she found very little detail. 

She added that since 2021, information like court transcripts has become more easily available to staff. She also said engagement with child safety services has drastically increased.

The inquest continues.