An alternative healer has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a diabetic woman who died after stopping taking insulin at his tapas therapy workshop.
Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, was one of 30 “enthusiastic disciples” of Hongchi Xiao who attended the week-long retreat at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshirein October 2016 Winchester Crown Court heard.
Xiao, 61, who has no medical qualifications or training, was for 10 years an “exponent” of paida lajin therapy, which consists of making patients slap or hit themselves repeatedly, and wrote a book on the subject.
Ms Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1998 and sought alternatives to her insulin medication due to her vegetarianism and fear of needles.
The court heard Xiao, who was described as “Master Xiao” in the workshop program, said “well done” after telling the group he had stopped taking his insulin.
But she became seriously ill and was “crying in bed and howling in pain” before dying from diabetic ketoacidosis on the fourth day of the course, on October 20, 2016.
‘He had seen this before’
Prosecutors said the therapist, from Cloudbreak, California, knew her life was at risk and did not seek medical help for her.
Xiao denied the charge of manslaughter through gross negligence and told jurors he would “never” persuade someone not to take insulin, but was found guilty after a trial.
The court heard he was previously convicted in an Australian court of the manslaughter of a six-year-old boy who died in April 2015, 18 months before Ms Carr-Gomm, when his parents stopped giving him insulin after taking part in one of Xiao’s workshops. in Sydney.
The young man became seriously ill and began “vomiting black liquid,” which Xiao attributed to “just part of the self-healing body adjustment,” the jury said.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the verdict that Xiao “knew the consequences of Danielle Carr-Gomm’s decision to stop taking insulin could be fatal, he had seen this before”.
She added: “Hongchi Xiao was the man responsible, but he failed to respond to Ms Carr-Gomm’s worsening condition with tragic consequences.
“Your failure to take reasonable steps to assist Ms Carr-Gomm contributed substantially to her death and constituted gross negligence.”
Court artist’s drawing of Hongchi Xiao appearing at Winchester Crown Court. Photo: Elizabeth Cook/PA
‘I learned from kung fu masters’
Xiao told jurors that he stopped working in finance in the early 2000s because he “wanted to do something more meaningful” and traveled through the mountainous areas of China, where he learned various methods related to natural healing, from fishermen to kung fu masters.
He said he studied methods such as acupuncture, cupping and massage, and practiced natural healing in Tibet, where he was invited by monks and stayed in a monastery treating 100 people a day before learning paida lajin.
Meaning “slap and stretch”, it is considered a method of self-healing in which “poisonous waste” is expelled from the body by patting and slapping parts of the body.
Footage from a 2015 talk in India shows Xiao teaching participants how to slap the inside of their elbows while telling them, “No pain, no gain.”
He brings a man on stage who says he has heart disease and slaps him on the arm to increase the bruise, telling the crowd, “This is what we call poisonous blood.”
“The harder it is, the longer it takes, the faster it disappears,” says Xiao.
‘Messenger sent by God’
Ms Carr-Gomm first attended one of Xiao’s workshops in Bulgaria in July 2016, where she also fell ill after stopping taking her insulin.
In a video testimonial, she addresses Xiao as “master” and tells him: “You are definitely a messenger sent by God because you are starting a revolution to put the power back into the hands of the people to heal and change. the entire health system.”
The court heard participants at the Wiltshire retreat signed a liability release form which stated the practice was not “intended for medical treatment” and they fasted for several days, consuming only Chinese tea.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said Ms Carr-Gomm’s decision to stop taking her insulin injections came amid Xiao’s “exposure to evangelism” “that insulin was poison and quepaida lajin represented an alternative”.
“He knew Ms. Carr-Gomm was risking death and he knew he had influence over her decision,” he told jurors during the trial.
“In short, therefore, he chose to congratulate a diabetic who stopped injecting, rather than persuade him not to run such a serious risk to his life.”
Not a doctor
Giving testimony, Xiao said that “he was not a doctor, so everyone is responsible for their own medication”.
“Secondly, I am not completely against medicines, what worries me is the side effect of the medicine,” he said.
“To stop medication there is one condition: you don’t do everything suddenly, you do it gradually – you must always check.”
Senior Specialist Prosecutor Ben Southam said gross negligence manslaughter convictions were still quite rare, but Xiao’s case was “particularly unusual”.
“I think he is dangerous because he practices a self-healing method that is not recognized in Chinese medicine and in two workshops he conducted two people died,” he said.
“Additionally, Danielle suffered a severe reaction at a previous workshop in July 2016 in Bulgaria.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
