Two Sydney parents have been charged with the manslaughter of their diabetic six-year-old son, who died after attending a "self-healing" course where he was allegedly deprived of insulin and food.
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Emergency services found the Year 1 student unconscious and not breathing at the Ritz Hotel in Hurstville on April 30, 2015, after the boy had left the workshop held at a nearby clinic. He died at the scene.
Police on Tuesday arrested the boy's father, 56, and mother, 41, at their home in Prospect in Sydney's west and took them into custody, alleging their "gross negligence" caused the boy's death. Authorities believe the parents were complicit in the deliberate denial of food and medicine.
But the man who ran the $1800 week-long course continues to elude police in Australia as well as Britain, where he was recently detained on suspicion of manslaughter over another death.
Hongchi Xiao, a Chinese born self-described "healer" who left Australia in the days after the death, practises his own form of therapy called "paidalajin", which combines fasting, stretching and slapping the skin to the point of bruising.
"You have to be hard a little bit, cruel a little bit, but not too much," Mr Xiao said when describing paidalajin in a video last year.
He was treating Danielle Carr-Gomm, a 71-year-old diabetic, when she died suddenly in October during a retreat he ran in south-west England. Police then released him on bail.
Mr Xiao, who has promoted himself in Australia with the help of his Queensland convert Ben James, compared his treatment to yoga and taichi.
"In each of my books and seminars, I have emphasised that I am not a doctor," Mr Xiao said in a message posted to Facebook that rejected responsibility for the boy's death.
The same post linked to what he called a "strictly controlled" Indian study of 25 people that recommended paidalajin for diabetes while referring to "healing crises".
"[Type 1 diabetes patients] recorded improvements in their clinical condition," the report said.
"However, during the Healing crisis and fasting when their blood sugars went up [they] needed medical support in the form of calories, fluids and rapid action insulin to prevent ketoacidosis."
Ketoacidosis is a medical emergency caused by a lack of insulin, according to Diabetes Australia.
The Tasly Healthpac Centre in Hurstville where the boy attended the workshop has previously said that Mr Xiao "rented a room from our centre to conduct what was described to us as a series of health seminars". The clinic has said the boy was not a patient of the clinic.
The parents, granted conditional bail, were both due to appear before local courts this week. They each face a maximum of 25 years' jail if convicted.
