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Slapping therapist jailed for boy's death


SH3LBONA @ CSBD
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Chinese therapist Hong Chi Xiao has been jailed for the manslaughter of a boy with type 1 diabetes.

Chinese therapist Hong Chi Xiao has been jailed for the manslaughter of a boy with type 1 diabetes. Credit: AAP

A Chinese "slapping therapist" who told Sydney parents to stop giving their diabetic son insulin has been jailed for at least seven years and six months for the boy's manslaughter. Hong Chi Xiao, a finance worker who turned to healing when he was 40, promoted the controversial practice of Paida Lajin, which advocates the slapping of skin to release toxins from patients The 56-year-old was found guilty in October of manslaughter for breaching the duty of care he owed the six-year-old boy through gross negligence.

In late 2018, a different jury found the parents and the boy's grandmother not guilty of the same charge.

In the NSW District Court on Friday, Judge Garry Neilson jailed Xiao for 10 years with a non-parole period of seven years and six months.

The boy's last insulin injection to treat his type 1 diabetes came on the first day of a week-long "radical" Chinese slapping and stretching therapy workshop in Sydney in April 2015.

His relatives, who can't be named, said Xiao instructed them to stop the regular blood glucose tests and insulin injections.

He told them the boy's increased vomiting showed toxins were leaving his body.

"He was pushed around in a stroller on the final day because he couldn't walk," the prosecutor told the jury.

The judge, who took five hours to deliver his sentencing remarks, said the boy's parents were clearly led to believe their son would be cured of diabetes through participating in the workshop.

The boy, who had been diagnosed as being insulin-dependent diabetic in April 2014, had been "quite understandably" complaining to his parents about the painful regular finger-pricking.

"The offender is a well educated and articulate young man," the judge said.

He contrasted the well-travelled Xiao to the parents and grandmother, who he said were not well educated.

He noted the victim impact statements of the grieving parents which revealed the profound effect the boy's death had on them and their other child.

The judge did not accept Xiao, who was of previous good character, had shown remorse and contrition.

Deterrence was an important factor in sentencing, he said.

"Other people who come to this country to promote alternative therapies must be acutely aware that if they do anything like the offender did, they are liable to pay a heavy penalty."

Xiao was arrested in the UK in April 2017.

His sentence was backdated to then, meaning he'll be eligible for parole in October 2024.

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