Six-year-old boy died after 'slap therapy' treatment, court hears

A slap therapy healer was previously convicted after a six-year-old boy died having attending his workshops, a court has heard.

Hongchi Xiao, 61, of Cloudbreak, California, allegedly told the boy’s parents to stop giving him  insulin shortly before he died in Sydney, Australia, in 2015.

Xiao is accused of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Danielle Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, 18 months after the boy was left unable to walk or stand and was “vomiting black liquid” shortly before he died.

He denies the charge.

Mrs Carr-Gomm, 71, died at Cleeve House in Wiltshire, where she was allegedly left "howling in pain" after taking part in an alternative therapy workshop which sees participants slapping each other and themselves, a jury has heard.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court was told that Xiao told the boy’s parents to stop giving him life-saving medication to him and although it is not suggested he gave a similar instruction to Mrs Carr-Gomm, the prosecution claim he “congratulated” Mrs Carr-Gomm after she informed him she had stopped her medication.

The youngster started to become seriously ill and started “vomiting black liquid”, which Xiao put down “to just part of self-healing body adjustment”, the court heard.

Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, said the family attended Xiao’s Paida Lajin workshops in Hurstville, Sydney, which involved the participants slapping themselves and each other and fasting.

He said: “The defendant himself did not perform any slapping on any of the participants.

“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.”

A court sketch of Hongchi Xiao (Image: PA)

Mr Atkinson said that by day three the boy’s mother told the workshop group of her son’s deteriorating health and that he was “vomiting, had high blood sugar levels and high ketone levels”.

Despite this, Xiao continued to “instruct” the mother to continue not giving the insulin to her son, the court heard, and his health continued to deteriorate.

By the fifth day he was required to be pushed in a pram because he could not walk or stand to dress himself and started to “vomit yellow and black liquid”, the court heard.

The court was told the mother confronted Xiao and told him: “Look at this picture, last night he vomiting black stuff, all these things”, to which he replied: “Is the detox. All the bad stuff come from – come out from his body, his organ. It’s just part of self-healing body adjustment.”

Four days later, the boy was accompanied by his grandmother in his room when he had a seizure.

As the grandmother went for help, she locked herself out of the room and hotel staff arrived who found the boy on the bed motionless, the court heard.

Mr Atkinson said that Xiao also returned and began “slapping the boy’s inner elbows” until paramedics arrived, but they were unable to resuscitate him and he died as a result of diabetic ketoacidosis.”

The trial continues.