Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71 from Lewes, died at Cleeve House in Wiltshire where she was taking part in the alternative therapy workshop.
The workshop involves paida lajin therapy, where patients are slapped or slap themselves repeatedly.
Cleeve House in Seend, Wiltshire (Image: Google)
Hongchi Xiao, of Cloudbreak in California, entered a not guilty plea to the manslaughter by gross negligence charge during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court today, after the woman’s death on October 20 in 2016.
The 60-year-old was charged in November having been extradited to the UK from Australia.
Mrs Carr-Gomm, from Lewes, East Sussex, was previously said by her family to have embraced alternative and holistic medicine and therapies to help her type 1 diabetes.
She was born in France and moved to the UK aged 21, where she was diagnosed with diabetes in 1999 and struggled to inject insulin due to a fear of needles.
Xiao, who ran the wokshop, is alleged to have “unlawfully killed” Mrs Carr-Gomm “whilst delivering a paida lajin workshop.”
The charge said “he owed a duty of care and, in particular, to take reasonable steps to ensure that urgent medical assistance was sought.”
She stopped taking insulin during the program and suffered ketoacidosis – a severe lack of insulin in the body which means that it cannot use sugar for energy and starts to use fat instead.
Defence lawyer Jessica Clarke told the court: “The deceased was an avid follower and ran her own courses of the practice.”
Read more: Man charged over woman’s death at slapping workshop
Her son Matthew, 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.”
Judge Timothy Mousley KC adjourned the case for a four-week trial to start on June 26 with a further case management hearing to be held on February 8.
He will remain in custody until this date.
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