A jury at Winchester Crown Court has found alternative healer, Hongchi Xiao, guilty of gross negligence manslaughter following the death of 71-year-old Danielle Carr-Gomm in 2016. Xiao, 61, of Cloudbreak in California, had promoted slapping therapy as a “cure” for diabetes at a retreat in Wiltshire, where Carr-Gomm died from complications related to the condition. The court was told that Carr-Gomm, who had Type 1 diabetes, stopped taking insulin while at a workshop led by Xiao. The jury returned their majority verdict of 11 to one after 19.5 hours of deliberation.
Carr-Gomm had previously attended a paida lajin workshop led by Xiao in Bulgaria in July 2016. Paida lajin, meaning “slapping and stretching”, involves slapping the body to expel toxins. Testimonials endorsed the therapy to the extent that Carr-Gomm decided to attend a second workshop held by Xiao in Wiltshire in October 2016. Carr-Gomm stopped taking her insulin on the first day of the retreat. On day three she became seriously ill and on day four she died from diabetic ketoacidosis.
Xiao was convicted on the grounds of failing in his duty of care towards Carr-Gomm, and in the face of his experience of diabetics stopping taking insulin in the past, failing to foresee the likely fatal outcome.
In 2015, Xiao was imprisoned in Australia after a six-year-old boy died at one of his workshops when his parents stopped giving him insulin. Xiao was convicted of dangerous conduct causing death and banned from offering medical treatment. He denied the allegations but was jailed for six years. Xiao has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 1 October
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