Alternative healer found guilty of manslaughter of pensioner in slapping therapy workshop
26 July 2024, 17:07
An 'alternative healer' has been found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of a woman at his slapping therapy workshop.
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Danielle Carr-Gomm, a diabetic grandmother, died in October 2016 after stopping taking her insulin at the week-long workshop run by Californian man Hongchi Xiao in Wiltshire.
Xiao failed to seek help for 71-year-old Mrs Carr-Gomm, despite her clearly being in distress, prosecutors said.
The workshop involved 'paida lajin' therapy - which involves patients being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly to heal their pain.
Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was from Lewes, East Sussex, was previously said by her family to have embraced alternative and holistic medicine and therapies.
Xiao congratulated Mrs Carr-Gomm after she informed others on the workshop that she had stopped taking her insulin.
Read more: Self-styled 'healer' denies killing diabetic grandmother in 'slapping therapy' workshop
But she fell seriously ill and was howling in pain before dying on the fourth day of the workshop.
Prosecutors claimed Xiao knew she was at risk and did not seek medical help for her.
The court heard that Xiao had previously been convicted of the manslaughter of a six-year-old boy who died in April 2015, when his parents stopped giving him insulin after attending his workshop.
Xiao said, giving evidence, that he was "not a medical doctor, so everyone is responsible for their own medication".
He added: "Secondly I'm not fully against medicine, what I'm concerned about is the side effect of the medicine.
"To stop medication there is one condition, you don't do all of it suddenly, you do it gradually - you must always check."
Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was born in France and moved to the UK aged 21, was diagnosed with diabetes in 1999 and struggled to inject insulin due to a fear of needles.
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 the death of Mrs Carr-Gomm had come as a "huge shock" to the family.
