Inside shadowy beliefs of ‘cult’ on trial

A trial of 14 members of a small, close-knit religious group over the death of a young girl has shed light on its cult-like beliefs - including their practices, gender roles and how they attempted to recruit new people to their faith.

A trial of 14 members of a small, close-knit religious group over the death of a young girl has shed light on its cult-like beliefs - including their practices, gender roles and how they attempted to recruit new people to their faith.

Inside the group known as The Saints, everything was geared towards worshipping the Lord.

They would meet once or twice a week, singing songs of praise and sharing a meal before being led by scripture from their leader, the “messenger” from God, Brendan Luke Stevens.

Church and Easter were not celebrated, school was only seen as a tool to recruit more believers and interactions with “outsiders” not members of the church were discouraged.

Most importantly, the use of medicine and medical treatment was specifically shunned.

These are just a snapshot of some of the shadowy practices of the Toowoomba-based home church group that have been laid bare in a Supreme Court trial of its 14 members who are accused of causing the death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs in early 2022.

The Crown has argued the girl died after her father Jason Richard Struhs, 52, mother Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and 12 other members of The Saints withheld her insulin medication over several days, in line with their fringe beliefs.

Elizabeth became more and more unwell until she died between January 6-7 that year.

It is further alleged the group prayed for God to heal the girl instead of seeking medical attention in the days she declined.

Jayde Struhs – the estranged eldest child of the Struhses and Elizabeth’s sister – gave evidence on her experience growing up in The Saints.

She was only five when she first met Mr Stevens and his family.

The group at first attended a church called Revival Centres International (RCI) in Brisbane, where Jayde and her mother were baptised by being fully immersed in water and receiving the “Holy Spirit from God”.

“It’s the receiving of speaking in tongues … his language for us, the connection,” Jayde told the court.

“It’s like a different language.”

This practice remains a central part of The Saints and was how Mr Struhs was inducted into the religious group in 2021.

Kerrie and Jason Struhs with their eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth. CREDIT:A CURRENT AFFAIR
Kerrie and Jason Struhs with their eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth. CREDIT:A CURRENT AFFAIR
A mammoth trial of 14 members of a cult-like religious circle who are accused of killing an eight-year-old girl Elizabeth Struhs, by withholding her insulin medication. COURT SKETCH : NewsWire
A mammoth trial of 14 members of a cult-like religious circle who are accused of killing an eight-year-old girl Elizabeth Struhs, by withholding her insulin medication. COURT SKETCH : NewsWire
In the years prior, he never joined in any of the church trips or the group’s initial home meetings, Jayde said.

After Mr Stevens unsuccessfully attempted to become a pastor at RCI, the families broke off from the church.

They started holding services at the Stevenses’ family home in Gatton – reading from the King James Bible at their meetings each week.

By this time, Jayde was 10.

The Saints held “very specific” traditional gender roles – including women mostly doing the cooking and Mr Stevens leading the group each week.

Growing up, Jayde remembers Christmas and Easter being branded as “pagan festivals” and not celebrated in the household.

Jayde gave evidence it created friction between her parents, as Mr Struhs still celebrated Christmas.

She said members of The Saints were encouraged to “spread the word of God” at any opportunity they could – even in school.

Any assessments Jayde would complete needed to be put back to a religious standpoint so they could be shared with others.

People were invited back to meetings but many did not stay permanently, Jayde explained.

Brendan Luke Stevens on A Current Affair. He has been charged with the death of Elizabeth Struhs.
Brendan Luke Stevens on A Current Affair. He has been charged with the death of Elizabeth Struhs.
Among the group’s most central tenets was not to rely on medicine or medical treatment.

“So if anyone was ill or hurt themselves, the first thing we would hear every time is God heals,” Jayde said.

In line with this, Jayde never remembers attending the doctor or dentist or taking any medication.

Jayde remembers the only exception to this rule in her family was when Mr Struhs took his children to get vaccinated.

The shunning of medicine was not only confined to simple things like painkillers and multivitamins.

Family members of Lachlan and Samantha Schoenfisch told the court the couple threw out all of their medicines, ointments and creams and refused to even use inhalant products like Vicks.

They even stopped wearing their glasses – despite Mr Schoenfisch complaining of sore eyes.

Keita Martin’s mother Danielle said her daughter was told by Mr Stevens to not accept any medication while she was suffering from period cramps.

Even recreational activities seen as not being in the “interests of God” were discouraged.

Jayde gave evidence she was looking to pursue a professional career in golf – which she played with her father – but eventually was made to drop the sport entirely.

“I was a very sporty person from a young age,” Jayde said.

“Over the years I spent more time playing golf on the weekends and it became a conversation that it was taking too much time away from God.

“I had a couple of Sunday games come in as I was getting competitive.”

In her evidence, Jayde said she remembered members of the Stevens family and her mother encouraging her to drop the sport altogether – which she did.

When she was 16, Jayde came out as gay.

She received support from her school and her father, who “stood by her” when she began to realise her sexuality.

But this led to a massive conflict with her mum, Mr Stevens and the church group.

Sexuality was a “massive thing” in The Saints – with Jayde explaining homosexuality was viewed as an “abomination” and being gay was “not OK”.

Upon learning of the news, Jayde was whisked away to the Stevenses’ house where Mr Stevens spent “hours” trying to convince her she wasn’t gay.

“(Brendan said) I need to follow God and I could lose my connection with him,” Jayde told the court.

“If I didn’t, then a lot of bad things would happen to me if I followed that.

“He was reading scriptures about why I can’t be gay … (said) I needed to turn back to him and find him because I was straying.”

Jayde said the pressure from her mother and the church became “too much” for her – culminating in her leaving in September 2014 and living with a friend from school.

“I kind of crumbled a little,” she said.

“I was so scared. I was scared of what was going to happen to me if I didn’t accept myself. It was talked about that I would endure hell forever.

“Walking out, I realised I didn’t want to have to confront that.

“It’s not something I wanted to do. I didn’t feel safe there.”

Mr Schoenfisch’s father Cameron also gave evidence of how his son’s own beliefs began to change within weeks of joining The Saints.

Lachlan began to “rant against pharmaceuticals, ointments, creams, doctors and vaccines”, refusing to get his Covid-19 jab at the time he was baptised into the group in 2021.

Initially, he had been amused at anti-vaxxer messages about the vaccine.

But Cameron said he then began to claim it would “damn your immortal soul” and vaccines had been “tested on the foetuses of aborted babies”.

His son also began to not wear his glasses.

“Everything about them changed,” Cameron said, including how they dressed and their activities like going to restaurants.

“He had been wearing glasses … (then) I noticed he wasn’t and was complaining about sore and tired eyes.

Lachlan also accused his father of being “worldly and shallow” and treating money “as his God”, Cameron said.

“I believe he was in a cult,” Cameron said.

The judge-alone trial will resume on Monday.