The mother of an eight-year-old girl who died after her insulin was withheld had previously served time in prison for failing to get medical assistance for her child, a court has been told.
The claim was made as another of the 14 members of a fringe religious group faced Toowoomba Magistrates Court over the death of Elizabeth Struhs.
Elizabeth had type 1 diabetes and died on January 7 from diabetic ketoacidosis several days after her insulin was stopped.
Samantha Emily Schoenfisch, nee Crouch, 24, was the sixth member of the group, including the child's parents Kerrie and Jason Struhs, to be committed to stand trial for murder.
The committal hearing before Magistrate Louise Shephard was told that Ms Schoenfisch had told police during an interview in July that she had joined the religious group known as "The Church" in late 2021.
"When she joined the religious group, Ms Schoenfisch was very excited to learn that Kerrie Struhs was in prison for failure to obtain medical assistance for her young daughter Elizabeth, because this showed that Kerrie had real faith," Magistrate Shephard told the court.
"She was aware how unwell Elizabeth was in 2019 when Elizabeth was taken to the hospital by her father.
"Ms Schoenfisch had read in a news article, and she had been told by a member of the Struhs family, that Elizabeth had stopped breathing [in 2019] and was resuscitated and that the doctors were so concerned they thought Elizabeth may suffer permanent injury, such as brain injury."
Group leader Brendan Luke Stevens, 60, also faced court for committal but the committal hearing regarding his murder charge was adjourned to December 8.
He was remanded until November 15 on a separate charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life to Elizabeth in 2019.
He declined legal representation and was remanded in custody.
Father told to 'have faith', court hears
The court heard Ms Schoenfisch was made aware on Tuesday, January 4 that Elizabeth had fallen ill.
That week she and her husband Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 30, who has also been charged with murder, visited the Struhs' home to support the family.
"Ms Schoenfisch spoke of looking after the children," Magistrate Shephard said.
"She knew that Jason [Struhs] was struggling with the situation and would give him hugs and tell him not to be sad, to rejoice in the Lord, and 'don't lose your faith,'" Magistrate Shephard said.
The court heard that during her interview with police Ms Schoenfisch said she hoped her encouragement of Jason helped him to "remain steadfast in his decision to withdraw Elizabeth's insulin".
"She hoped she encouraged him to keep his faith in God," Ms Shephard said.
The day before Elizabeth died, Ms Schoenfisch had assisted in caring for her by trying to get the child to eat and helping to take her to the toilet.
In her interview, Ms Schoenfisch said late on Thursday Elizabeth was not walking and when she and her husband and their children attended the Struhs home on Friday Elizabeth was not breathing.
Accused labels charge 'disgusting'
Ms Schoenfisch was remanded in custody and ordered to stand trial for murder in the Supreme Court.
She pleaded not guilty and told the court the charge was "disgusting".
"Not guilty is all I will say … there was no recklessness or indifference at any stage," Ms Schoenfisch said.
"Anything done was with Elizabeth's wishes in mind, as well as absolute care and love for her and her life and how she felt.
"At no point anyone was intending any sort of harm on her or any sort of pain or anything, and absolutely no indifference — the charge of indifference I find disgusting."
"And further, the implication is that there was harm and there was absolutely no intention at any stage for anything other than full, complete healing and her wishes, which were to no longer rely on the insulin — she didn't like and she didn't want."
Lachlan Stuart Schoenfisch, 30, also appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court charged with the murder of Elizabeth Struhs.
He declined legal representation and his matter was adjourned to November 17 to allow the magistrate to review evidence.
He was remanded in custody.
