Child safety failed to recognise coercive control in Struhs case, inquest hears

Child safety workers failed to recognise the significant coercive control that Elizabeth Struhs's mother and fringe church group were subjecting on her father when assessing the eight-year-old's future risk of harm, an inquest has heard.

Elizabeth Struhs's body was found at her Toowoomba home in January 2022 after her father Jason Struhs stopped providing her insulin for her type 1 diabetes.

He had recently converted to a sect named The Saints, which his wife Kerrie Struhs was a member of.

The group holds anti-medical intervention views and instead believed that God would save Elizabeth.

Limited focus on coercive control

An inquest probing various government agencies' involvement in the case has so far run for a week and a half and heard from more than 20 witnesses.

Today a child safety worker gave evidence about various mistakes she said were made in Elizabeth's initial risk assessment and resulting case plan.

"Child safety were too narrowly focused on Elizabeth's diabetes management and failed to identify the power imbalance of Mr and Mrs Struhs," she said.

According to the child safety witness, staff "failed to identify the serious risk of harm Mrs Struhs's beliefs surrounding medical intervention could have had on Elizabeth", as well as the presence of domestic and family violence.

She said the case plan identified just one form of abuse, when there were two.

"Exposure to domestic and family violence in terms of coercive control," she said.

The woman said if staff had recognised that factor they would have looked at other ways to support Jason Struhs.

"To withstand the coercive control, if possible, that was occurring in relation to the importance of the religious beliefs of Mrs Struhs and their older children which then weighed heavily on Jason," she said.

The Brisbane Corconer's Court heard on Friday, Elizabeth risk of future neglect should have also been flagged at various stages, including when Mrs Struhs was questioned by a doctor and two child safety workers.

The child safety worker said, while every person has a right to their own beliefs, they must still, by law, ensure a child's protection and safety.

Missed chance to intervene

In mid-2019 Elizabeth was taken to hospital in a comatose state by her father against her mother's wishes, which is when the Child Safety Department became involved, and required the couple to sign an intervention with parental agreement (IPA) which stipulated Mr Struhs would continue providing Elizabeth with her lifesaving medicine, and that Kerrie Struhs wouldn't intervene.

In 2021 Kerrie Struhs spent several months in jail over the incident.

It was at this stage, the inquest heard, that her husband converted to the sect, falling "into their hold, coercive control and belief system", which was a "very significant event in terms of what caused or contributed to Elizabeth's death".

Counsel assisting Simon Hamlyn-Harris questioned the child safety worker over whether the department should have intervened when Kerrie Struhs was first sent to jail.

She said that fact would have been viewed as a positive that would have reduced Elizabeth's risk rather than increased it, and pointed to Jason Struhs's swift conversion to the sect as a major complicating factor.

"It would have been very hard to predict."

In 2025 Mr and Mrs Struhs were each sentenced to 14 years for their daughter's manslaughter, after first being acquitted of murder.

Eleven other members of The Saints were sentenced to between six and nine years in prison for their involvement.