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An alternative healer who failed to get medical help for a 71-year-old diabetic woman who died after she stopped taking insulin at his slapping therapy retreat has been found guilty of her manslaughter.
Danielle Carr-Gomm died at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire, in October 2016 while taking part in the paida lajin therapy event. Paida lajin therapy involves patients being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly.
Hongchi Xiao, of Cloudbreak, California, was convicted by the jury at Winchester Crown Court of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, East Sussex.
Xiao, aged 61, was extradited for the trial from Australia, where he had previously been prosecuted over the death of a six-year-old boy who also died when his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending the defendant’s workshop in Sydney.
The court heard that Carr-Gomm, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999, was left “howling in pain” as she became seriously ill. She died on the fourth day of the workshop.
Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Carr-Gomm had sought alternatives to the insulin medication she had been prescribed for her diabetes, because of her vegetarianism and fear of needles.
She had first joined a paida lajin workshop run by the defendant in Bulgaria in July 2016. She became seriously ill after stopping her insulin medicine, before she resumed taking it and subsequently recovered.
Mr Atkinson described how Carr-Gomm went on to attend another of Xiao’s workshops in Wiltshire in October of that year.
The court heard how Xiao said “Well done” to Carr-Gomm after she told the group she had stopped taking her insulin at the week-long retreat, and that she subsequently became seriously ill.
Mr Atkinson said that by the third day of the event, “she was vomiting, tired and weak, and by the evening she was howling in pain and unable to respond to questions”.
A chef at the workshop, Teresa Hayes, told jurors that Carr-Gomm was “delirious” and “frothing at the mouth” before she died, adding that she had wanted to call an ambulance but trusted those with more experience of the holistic healing method.
Mr Atkinson described how the defendant failed to get medical help for Carr-Gomm before she died in the early hours of the fourth day.
The prosecutor said: “Those who had received and accepted the defendant’s teachings misinterpreted Mrs Carr-Gomm’s condition as a healing crisis.”
He said that Xiao had been an “exponent” of paida lajin for 10 years and had written a book on it.
Mr Atkinson said: “It is said to be a method of self-healing in which ‘poisonous waste’ is expelled from the body through patting and slapping parts of the body.” He added: “He does not have medical qualifications or training.
“In a book that he wrote about paida lajin, the defendant asserted that the taking of insulin leads to liver and eye problems, and that in contrast, the paida lajin was ‘safer and more reliable than existing healing practices’ [and] would result in ‘significant improvement’ or full recovery in 90 per cent of cases, including cases of diabetes.”
He added that Xiao also wrote in the book that “doctors are brainwashed by drug producers to act as salespersons for their drugs”.
The court heard that Carr-Gomm had provided a testimonial for Xiao, describing him as a “messenger sent by God” who was “starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of health care”.
Carr-Gomm was born in France and moved to the UK aged 21. Speaking after her death, her son Matthew Carr-Gomm, who lives in New Zealand, said: “She was always keen to try and find alternative methods of treating and dealing with her diabetes, and was very interested in alternative and holistic medicine and therapies.
“I know she was desperate to try and cure herself of this disease. She always maintained a healthy lifestyle and was adamant that nothing would stop her from living a full life.
“In recent years, Mum was in a great place, with a partner, a lovely home, and was travelling the world. She had a lot of life left in her.” He said the death of his mother had come as a “huge shock” to the family.
Giving evidence during the trial, Xiao said he would “never” persuade someone who needed insulin not to take it, adding that insulin is “useful”.
On his attitude towards medication being taken at his workshops, he added: “First of all, I said I’m not a medical doctor, so everyone is responsible for their own medication. Secondly, I’m not fully against medicine. What I’m concerned about is the side effects of the medicine.”
Following the verdict, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Rosemary Ainslie, said: “Hongchi Xiao knew the consequences of Danielle Carr-Gomm’s decision to stop taking insulin could be fatal; he had seen it before.
“Hongchi Xiao was the man in charge, yet he failed to respond to Mrs Carr-Gomm’s worsening condition with tragic consequences. His failure to take reasonable steps to help Mrs Carr-Gomm substantially contributed to her death and amounted to gross negligence.”
Xiao will be sentenced on 1 October.
