A “slap therapy” healer has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a woman who died at one of his workshops.
Honghi Xiao has been convicted over the death of Danielle Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, a diabetic who stopped taking her insulin.
Xiao, 61, from California, denied being linked to the death of Mrs Carr-Gomm, 71, who was left “howling in pain” at a therapy workshop.
A trial at Winchester Crown Court heard how Mrs Carr-Gomm described Xiao as a “messenger sent by God”.
Danielle Carr-Gorman (Image: Wiltshire Police)
The court heard she had been taking part in a Paida Lajin therapy workshop in which patients slap others and themselves repeatedly.
Mrs Carr-Gomm stopped taking her insulin medication for Type 1 diabetes at the event in October, 2016, something Xiao “congratulated” her on.
The court had heard the alternative healer said “well done” to her after she told the group she had stopped taking her insulin at the week-long retreat.
But she became seriously ill. Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, said that by the third day “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 Mrs Carr-Gomm was “delirious” and “frothing at the mouth” before she died, adding that she wanted to call an ambulance but trusted those with more experience of the holistic healing method.
Mr Atkinson said the defendant failed to get medical help for Mrs Carr-Gomm before she died in the early hours of the fourth day.
He said that in a book Xiao wrote about Paida Lajin, he said insulin leads to liver and eye problems and that “doctors are brainwashed by drug producers to act as salespersons for their drugs”.
Xiao said he would “never” persuade someone who needed insulin not to take it.
Court sketch of Xiao (Image: PA)
Xiao 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 after his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending the defendant’s workshop in Sydney.
Mrs 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 her death had come as a “huge shock” to the family.
Following the verdict, 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 October 1.
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