Elizabeth Struhs’ mother, Kerrie, was assessed by correctional services as being of no immediate risk to others by an officer who had no access to her offending history, three weeks before she and others caused her eight-year-old daughter to die, a Brisbane inquest has heard.
asserted
inquest → assess → history
Kerrie Struhs was sentenced to five months’ jail for child neglect after failing to take Elizabeth to hospital to treat her type 1 diabetes in 2019.
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Struhs → sentence → 2019
Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard has previously heard that Elizabeth was so unwell when she presented at hospital that she was nearly dead, and was in a coma.
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she → hear → coma
Elizabeth was discharged from hospital into the care of her father, Jason Struhs, by the department of child safety.
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Elizabeth → discharge → safety
Jason was later also convicted for child neglect over the 2019 incident.
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Jason → convict → incident
When Kerrie was released from jail on 16 December 2021 on court-ordered parole, she was assessed by two different correctional officers, the inquest heard on Monday.
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inquest → release → Monday
Elizabeth died just 22 days later of diabetic ketoacidosis, after Jason stopped providing insulin to treat her type 1 diabetes at their home in Toowoomba, Queensland.
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Jason → die → Toowoomba
Kerrie met with a parole intake officer the day of her release from prison in 2021.
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Kerrie → meet → 2021
That officer told the court that she didn’t have access to the QP9 for Kerrie’s conviction – a file produced by prosecutors and the police that would have included details about her offence – or the judge’s sentencing remarks.
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that → tell → offence
She also had no other knowledge of Kerrie before the meeting, but was able to access some details online, including her offence type.
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She → have → type
The court later heard that the other information was not accessible due to an administrative error.
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information → hear → error
The parole intake officer conducted an “immediate risk assessment” of Kerrie at the meeting.
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officer → conduct → meeting
The court was shown the file, which include the question: “Has the offender described any issues that may pose an immediate risk to themselves, others or impact on their immediate management?”
uncertain
that → show → management
The officer marked this “no”.
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officer → mark → this
A child safety officer had previously marked Elizabeth as “safe” just days after her 2019 admission to hospital.
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officer → mark → hospital
The file containing the risk assessment also disclosed a conversation between Kerrie and the parole intake officer about her 2019 offence.
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file → contain → offence
“Kerrie said she believed that God would heal the child but she wouldn’t interfere with someone else getting the child treatment …” the officer reported, in contemporaneous notes presented to the court.
“She said she would do the same again.
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she → say → same
She said that she would keep that trust in God that he would heal.”
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he → say → that
Kerrie had previously made similar remarks to healthcare workers, child safety officers, police and others.
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Kerrie → make → workers
Brisbane-based specialist doctors considered her beliefs so dangerous that Elizabeth could not safely live in the same home as her, but were overruled by child safety.
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Elizabeth → base → safety
A senior correctional services officer told the court Kerrie should have been flagged for the “serious offenders unit” due to causing “serious child harm”.
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Kerrie → tell → harm
That would have led to additional oversight over her case, the officer said.
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officer → lead → case
Kerrie’s parole intake officer told the court she upgraded her level of risk from “low” to “standard” due to the seriousness of her offence, which meant Kerrie would have to meet with a parole officer weekly.
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Kerrie → tell → officer
She also booked her another in-person meeting with a different parole officer, on 23 December.
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She → book → December
The officer who met her on 23 December said she met with Kerrie for just 10 or 15 minutes and didn’t take the same steps she might have at any other time of the year, two days before Christmas.
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she → meet → Christmas
Both officers were duty officers, filling in for others.
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officers → fill → others
Kerrie was also scheduled to meet with a parole officer a third time, on 6 January 2022.
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Kerrie → schedule → January
Elizabeth died on 7 January after Jason withdrew her insulin from 3 January 2022.
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Jason → die → January
Kerrie, Jason and the other 12 adult members of the religious sect they were members of were convicted of manslaughter over Elizabeth’s death last year.
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they → convict → death
None of the witnesses in the coronial inquest can be identified, for legal reasons.
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None → identify → reasons
The inquest continues.
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inquest → continue → ?
The Aporia
