An alternative healer who failed to get medical help for a diabetic grandmother who died after she stopped taking insulin at his slapping therapy workshop has been jailed for 15 years.
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 today sentenced to 10 years in prison, plus a five-year extended licence period at Winchester Crown Court.
The trial heard that Mrs Carr-Gomm, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1999, had sought alternatives to her insulin medication 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.
She then joined another course later that year, where she fell gravely ill and was heard ‘howling in pain’ before dying of diabetic ketoacidosis on the fourth day of the workshop at Cleeve House in Wiltshire.
Xiao ignored medical evidence that diabetics needs lifesaving insulin and ‘evangelised’ his slap therapy course as a ‘cure’ for diabetes.
Hongchi Xiao, 61, has jailed for 15 years for the manslaughter of Danielle Carr-Gomm
Mrs Carr-Gomm, a follower of Xiao’s who wanted to get rid of her type 1 diabetes, fell gravely ill over the course of the October 2016 workshop
The trial heard Mrs Carr-Gomm became seriously ill after stopping her insulin medicine after first attending the retreat in July before she restarted and subsequently recovered.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC previously described how Mrs Carr-Gomm went on to attend another of Xiao’s workshops in Wiltshire in October of that year.
The jury 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 that Xiao also wrote in the book that ‘doctors are brainwashed by drug producers to act as salespersons for their drugs’.
The 71-year-old, who had diabetes, ended up dead from the consequences of Xaio’s unorthodox methods
A significant purple bruise, appearing as though made with the palm of a hand, appears on a paida lajin participant’s tummy
Xiao claims these horrific marks left on the skin show the presence of toxins in the body
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 health care’.
Mrs Carr-Gomm was born in France and moved to the UK aged 21.
Speaking 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.’
He said the death of Mrs Carr-Gomm had come as a ‘huge shock’ to the family.
Giving evidence during the trial, Xiao said he would ‘never’ persuade someone who needed insulin not to take it, adding that insulin is ‘useful’.
On his attitude towards medication at his workshops, he added: ‘First of all, I said I’m not a medical doctor, so everyone is responsible for their own medication. Secondly, I’m not fully against medicine, what I’m concerned about is the side effect of the medicine.’
Xiao claimed slap therapy could cure people from immune diseases such as diabetes , arthritis and even cancer and autism
Court sketch of Xiao at Winchester Crown Court
Following Xiao’s conviction in July, Rosemary Ainslie, head the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Hongchi Xiao knew the consequences of Danielle Carr-Gomm’s decision to stop taking insulin could be fatal, he had seen it before.
‘Hongchi Xiao was the man in charge, yet he failed to respond to Mrs Carr-Gomm’s worsening condition with tragic consequences.
‘His failure to take reasonable steps to help Mrs Carr-Gomm substantially contributed to her death and amounted to gross negligence.
Wiltshire Police’s Detective Constable Dave Topp said Mrs Carr-Gomm had ‘put her trust’ in the ‘extremely convincing’ Hongchi Xiao.
The mother and grandmother had a ‘love for travelling’ before her tragic death in 2016.
Speaking outside Winchester Crown Court in July, he said: ‘Xiao had no medical qualifications or experience but claimed to be a self professed master in paida lajin – an ancient Chinese method for self-healing which involves slapping and stretching techniques to cure conditions such as diabetes.
‘However Danielle’s health deteriorated whilst in the care of Xiao and she sadly died.
‘A major investigation launched into her death and Xiao was arrested.”
Xiao, at a workshop in 2015, is pictured performing his paida lajin slapping and stretching method on a willing participant
A person covered in red marks across the backs of their legs after taking part in paida lajin
He continued: ‘Despite having no medical qualifications Xiao actively encouraged those attending his workshops to stop taking medication, knowing full-well the consequences.
‘Danielle put her trust in Xiao, he was extremely convincing and confident in his beliefs.
‘This has been an extremely complex investigation with a high level of medical expertise sought before Xiao could be extradited and put before the courts.
‘The passage of time which as been out of our control has added further challenges and complications to our investigation.
‘Xiao’s not guilty plea has only shown the little remorse he has over Danielle’s death and has made an extremely difficult and upsetting process for Danielle’s family even more prolonged and distressing.
‘Danielle was a mother and a grandmother who enjoyed life and had a love of travelling.’
‘Her death came as a huge shock to her family and friends and our thoughts are very much with them at this time.’
Inside dangerous world of slap therapy
Slap therapy is claimed to be an art of ‘self-healing’ which promises to improve blood circulation and release toxins from the body.
But the seemingly painful practice has been linked to a number of deaths worldwide, and left practitioners covered in deep cuts and huge swollen bruises.
The practice involves participants slapping parts of their body with their hands until they begin to swell and turn red, supposedly ridding paidthe blood of so called toxins which cause organs to ‘become sick’.
It has amassed a cult like following around the world, with one website claiming there are ‘millions of practitioners in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Germany, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Australia’.
Paida laijin claims to be a more effective form of cupping therapy, which sees people attach special cups to a person’s back for a few minutes and supposedly increases blood flow and improves circulation.
Those who practice paida laijin believe it can remove blockages of toxins, known as ‘sha’, in ‘microcirculations’ that are present in all internal organs.
These blockages are supposedly too small to spot using traditional medical techniques and can prevent nutrients being ‘imported’ into the body.
If these blockages remain in place, they can cause the organ to malfunction, it is claimed.
Two women perform paida on a woman by slapping her arms as she lays down
A person’s beaten chest is pictured covered in purple and red marks as they appear to be continually slapped by a ‘slapper’
A person shows off their injuries after a slap therapy session, with a huge black mark seen on the right side of their lower back
Paida laijin supposedly helps clear these blockages and help the body to ‘self heal’ and rid itself of any diseases.
The term paida, is said to refer to the use of one’s hands to repeatedly slap parts of the body while laijin is the act of stretching your limbs and joints to make them flexible.
Practitioners like Xiao will slap patients all over their body to apparently expel any ‘sha’ before stretching their bodies to allow the ‘smooth flow of energy’.
The slapping is often carried out with just a persons hand, although some also use specialised ‘slappers’, with large, protruding bumps.
Many medical practitioners have criticised the practice, saying that it causes bruises and results in broken blood vessels.
But Xiao – who has no medical qualifications or training – disputes this, instead claiming that any black or red marks are in fact ‘sha’ just leaving the body and are ‘good healing reactions’.
He has also claimed it can lead to full recovery in 90 per cent of cases, including people with diabetes, Alzheimer’s and even cancer and autism.
The former Wall Street banker previously told a seminar in South Africa: ‘The greater the pain and bruises while slapping means there is more poison inside the body.
A couple of people perform the slapping exercises on a prone participant
Bruises to the forearm caused by being slapped repeatedly
‘You can be your own doctor.
‘We were all born with self-healing power but we simply ignore it and spend millions of dollars paying for medications.’
His website adds: ‘Once we think out of the box of ‘medical intervention’, we will find that these non-medical methods can be used to prevent, diagnose and self-heal many so-called ‘incurable’ diseases for medical professionals.
‘This has been repeatedly proven true by millions of people over the past five years, and we have online and offline statistics and clinical reports provided by medical institutions to support this claim.’
Despite this sentiment, Xiao has repeatedly claimed he is ‘not a doctor,’ and suggests people do ‘see a doctor’ when they are actually sick.
In 2019, Xiao was found guilty of the manslaughter of a seven-year-old diabetic boy who died after Xiao told his parents to stop giving him insulin.
His parents had taken their son to Xiao’s workshop to try to cure his type 1 diabetes in 2015.
Xiao told the boy’s parents to stop giving him insulin and told them that it was merely the ‘detox’ when their son was in fact dying, a court was told.
The boy later died after he was found unconscious in a Hurstville hotel. Ambulance paramedics attempted CPR but he couldn’t be revived.
