A Queensland inquest has revealed that a correctional services officer assessing Kerrie Struhs before her daughter’s death had no access to her prior child neglect conviction, despite her being deemed low-risk. Struhs had been jailed in 2019 for failing to seek medical treatment for her eight-year-old daughter’s severe type 1 diabetes, leaving the child critically ill and in a coma. The coroner has previously heard how the child’s condition was so severe upon hospital arrival that she was nearly dead. The case raises questions about how past offending records are considered in risk assessments for individuals under supervision.
Queensland correctional services officer did not have access to details of Kerrie Struhs’ past offending which included child neglectGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastElizabeth 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. Continue reading...
