'Lesson not learned' by slap therapist after boy's death

Hongchi Xiao is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence

An alternative healer did not take adequate action to save a dying woman, despite the "cruel lesson" of the death of a child at one of his slapping workshops, a court has been told.

Hongchi Xiao is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence after he allegedly congratulated diabetic Danielle Carr-Gomm for stopping taking insulin.

She died at a slapping workshop run by Mr Xiao in Wiltshire, 18 months after six-year-old Aiden died at one of his workshops in Australia, Winchester Crown Court heard.

After Aiden's death, Mr Xiao was convicted by an Australian court of manslaughter, the jury in Winchester heard.

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Mrs Carr-Gomm, from Lewes in East Sussex, was attending a Paida Lajin workshop run by Mr Xiao at Cleeve House, in Seend, when she died in October 2016.

The 71-year-old had Type 1 diabetes, meaning she had to take insulin every day to keep her blood glucose levels under control.

Translating to "slap and stretch", Paida Lajin is said to be a method through which "poisonous waste" is expelled from the body through patting and slapping parts of the body.

Mr Xiao, of Cloudbreak in California, led Mrs Carr-Gomm to believe insulin was a "poison" and that her condition could be cured through his therapy, the court was previously told.

Discussing the two deaths, prosecuting barrister Duncan Atkinson KC said on Wednesday: “His actions towards Danielle Carr-Gomm occurred when the very real, obvious and serious risk of death had become all the more real and all the more obvious.

“They involved similar conduct, congratulating a Type 1 diabetic who replaced insulin with Paida Lajin, and taking no action to secure her help despite the cruel lesson that ought to have been provided by the boy’s untimely death."

Danielle Carr-Gomm died in October 2016

The court heard that Mr Xiao told the boy's parents to stop giving the life-saving medication to him and although it is not suggested the defendant gave a similar instruction to Mrs Carr-Gomm, the prosecution claim the defendant "congratulated" Mrs Carr-Gomm after she informed him she had stopped her medication.

Mr Atkinson told the jury Aiden and his family had attended Mr Xiao’s Paida Lajin workshops in April 2015 in Hurstville, Sydney.

“Shortly after the start of the workshop, as the judge who dealt with him in Australia found, the defendant told (the boy)’s mother to stop (his) insulin injections.

“Such an instruction is clear evidence of how strongly held the defendant’s views were, for example, as to insulin being poison,” he said.

By the third day, the boy's mother told the workshop group her son's health was deteriorating, and he was experiencing "vomiting... high blood sugar levels and high ketone levels", the jury heard.

Despite this, Mr Xiao continued to "instruct" the mother to withhold her son's insulin, the court was told.

As a result, his health worsened, and by day five, he lost the ability to walk, stand and dress himself, the jury heard.

He also began to "vomit yellow and black liquid", the court was told.

'Not medically justified'

The boy's mother confronted Mr Xiao about her son's deteriorating health, and he told her it was "the bad stuff" coming out of his body, which was "part of the self-healing body adjustment", the court was told.

Four days later, the boy vomited black liquid again, had a seizure, and later died, Mr Atkinson said.

Mr Xiao tended to the "motionless" boy and began slapping his inner elbows until paramedics arrived, the jury heard.

They were unable to resuscitate him, and his cause of death was found to be diabetic ketoacidosis, the court was told.

Mr Atkinson told the jury: "The defendant was ultimately prosecuted for and convicted of (the boy's) manslaughter.

“It follows that there can be no question but that the defendant owed (the boy) a duty of care whilst he was an attendee at his workshop, and that he breached that duty."

“He deprecated and deterred the use of conventional medicine even when he knew that to do so risked very serious consequences which could in turn be life-threatening.

“He advocated a course that he knew was not medically justified and was contrary to medical experience, and a boy died as a result," Mr Atkinson added.

Mr Xiao denies manslaughter by gross negligence in relation to Mrs Carr-Gomm's death. The trial continues.