An alternative healer has been jailed for 10 years over the death of a diabetic woman who stopped taking her insulin at his slapping therapy workshop.
Hongchi Xiao, 61, was previously found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of 71-year-old Danielle Carr-Gomm at a week-long retreat at Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire, in October 2016.
Xiao was sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus a five-year extended licence period, today at Winchester Crown Court.
The judge, Mr Justice Bright, said Mrs Carr-Gomm’s “untimely death was a tragedy for her and all of those who loved her”.
The court previously heard she was one of 30 “keen disciples” who attended the paida lajin therapy event – which sees patients being slapped or slapping themselves repeatedly.
Mrs Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1998 and had sought alternatives to her insulin medication because of her vegetarianism and fear of needles.
Danielle Carr-Gomm. Pic: Wiltshire Police
Xiao claimed his method could cure nearly all diseases, including diabetes, and the severe bruising caused by the slapping showed toxins being released from the body.
Prosecutors said the therapist, from Cloudbreak, California – referred to as “Master Xiao” in the programme for the workshop – knew she was risking death but said “well done” after she told the group she had stopped taking her insulin.
The jury was told he then failed to seek medical help for her when became seriously ill and was “crying on her bed and howling in pain” before she died of diabetic ketoacidosis on the fourth day of the course.
The judge said Xiao had shown “no real sign of clear remorse” as he continues to practice and promote paida lajin in prison.
“I sentence you on the basis you knew from late in the afternoon of day one of the fact that Danielle Carr-Gomm had stopped taking her insulin,” he said. “Furthermore you made it clear to her you supported this.”
Previous manslaughter conviction
Xiao was extradited to face trial from Australia, where he had previously been convicted of the manslaughter of a six-year-old boy who died in April 2015 – 16 months before Mrs Carr-Gomm – when his parents stopped giving him his insulin after attending one of Xiao’s workshops in Sydney.
He told the Winchester jury he stopped working in finance in the early 2000s before travelling to mountainous areas of China, where he learnt various methods relating to natural healing, from fishermen to kung fu masters, before learning paida lajin.
Meaning “slap and stretch”, 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.
Hongchi Xiao
The court heard Xiao, who has no medical qualifications or training, had been an “exponent” of the therapy for 10 years and had written a book on it, but it was not recognised by the association of traditional Chinese medicine.
Footage from a 2015 lecture in India shows Xiao teaching attendees how to slap the inside of their elbows as he tells them: “No pain, no gain.”
He brings one man, who says he has heart disease, on stage and slaps his arm to heighten the bruise, telling the crowd: “This is what we call poison blood.”
“The harder, the longer, the more quickly it disappears,” Xiao says.
Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was born in France before moving to the UK aged 21, first joined one of Xiao’s workshops in Bulgaria in July 2016, where she also fell ill after stopping taking her insulin, but restarted and later recovered.
In a video testimonial, she addresses Xiao as “master” and tells him: “You’re definitely a messenger sent by God because you’re starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of health care.”
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The court heard participants at the Wiltshire retreat signed a disclaimer form which stated the practice was not “meant for medical treatment” and they fasted for several days, only consuming a Chinese tea.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC had told the jury by the third day Mrs Carr-Gomm “was vomiting, tired and weak, and by the evening she was howling in pain and unable to respond to questions”.
Hongchi Xiao delivers a 2015 lecture. Pic: CPS
A chef at the workshop, Teresa Hayes, said she was “delirious” and “frothing at the mouth” before she died in the early hours of the following day on 20 October 2016.
‘Desperate to cure herself’
After her death, her son Matthew Carr-Gomm, who lives in New Zealand, said: “She was always keen to try and find alternative methods of treating and dealing with her diabetes, and was very interested in alternative and holistic medicine and therapies.
“I know she was desperate to try and cure herself of this disease.
“She always maintained a healthy lifestyle and was adamant that nothing would stop her from living a full life.
“In recent years, mum was in a great place with a partner, a lovely home and was travelling the world. She had a lot of life left in her.”
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Walker said he was “pleased” to see Xiao behind bars, adding: “He had no medical qualifications yet, despite this, was actively encouraging those in attendance at his workshops to refrain from taking their regular medication, knowing full well the consequences.”