Alternative healer to be sentenced for manslaughter of woman at slap workshop

Danielle Carr-Gomm died in October 2016 while taking part in a therapy event, which saw patients being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly.

Hongchi Xiao was convicted of manslaughter by Winchester Crown Court in July (CPS/PA) (PA Media)

An alternative healer who failed to get medical help for a 71-year-old diabetic woman who died after she stopped taking insulin at his slapping therapy workshop is due to be sentenced for manslaughter.

Danielle Carr-Gomm died in October 2016 while taking part in the Paida Lajin therapy event, which sees patients being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly.

Hongchi Xiao, of Cloudbreak, California, was convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Mrs Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, East Sussex, in July.

The 61-year-old was extradited for the trial from Australia, where he had previously been prosecuted over the death of a six-year-old boy who also died after his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending the defendant’s workshop in Sydney.

The trial heard that Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1999, was left “howling in pain” as she became seriously ill before she died on the fourth day of the workshop at Cleeve House in Wiltshire.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC previously told the court that Mrs Carr-Gomm had sought alternatives to her insulin medication for type 1 diabetes because of her vegetarianism and fear of needles.

She had first joined a Paida Lajin workshop, which means “slap and stretch”, run by the defendant in Bulgaria in July 2016.

Mrs Carr-Gomm became seriously ill after stopping her insulin medicine before she restarted and subsequently recovered.

The jury had heard how Xiao said “well done” to Mrs Carr-Gomm, after she told the group she had stopped taking her insulin at the week-long retreat, and she became seriously ill.

Mr Atkinson said that by the third day “she was vomiting, tired and weak, and by the evening she was howling in pain and unable to respond to questions”.

A chef at the workshop, Teresa Hayes, told jurors Mrs Carr-Gomm was “delirious” and “frothing at the mouth” before she died, adding that she wanted to call an ambulance but trusted those with more experience of the holistic healing method.

Mr Atkinson described how the defendant failed to get medical help for Mrs Carr-Gomm before she died in the early hours of the fourth day.

He said that Xiao had been an “exponent” of Paida Lajin for 10 years and had written a book on it.

Mr Atkinson said: “It is said to be a method of self-healing in which ‘poisonous waste’ is expelled from the body through patting and slapping parts of the body.”

He added: “He does not have medical qualifications or training.”

The prosecutor said the defendant also wrote in the book that “doctors are brainwashed by drug producers to act as salespersons for their drugs”.

Giving evidence during the trial, Xiao said he would “never” persuade someone who needed insulin not to take it, adding that insulin is “useful”.

The court heard that Mrs Carr-Gomm had provided a testimonial for Xiao, describing him as a “messenger sent by God” who was “starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of healthcare”.

He is due to be sentenced on Friday at Winchester Crown Court.