Coroner says she’s considering adopting recommendations from Victoria’s cults inquiry as investigation into Elizabeth Struh’s death continues

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The coroner investigating the death of Elizabeth Struhs is considering adopting recommendations from Victoria’s cults inquiry, warning a “lack of curiosity” about her family’s religious beliefs was a “missed opportunity”.

Elizabeth, an eight-year-old, died on 7 January 2022 of diabetic ketoacidosis after her father ceased providing insulin to treat type 1 diabetes.

Queensland correctional services officer did not have access to details of Kerrie Struhs’ past offending which included child neglect

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

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.

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. 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.

Eight-year-old Queensland girl died in 2022 after being denied insulin by her religious parents

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Elizabeth Struhs’ child protection case was not “prioritised” or worked intensively because the staff member assigned to her case was “very busy”, a coroner has heard.

The Queensland coroner’s court also heard the case worker may have been “overly influenced” by the presentation of Struhs’ “upper class home”, putting cases believed to involve a more immediate risk ahead of Elizabeth’s.