Cassius Turvey, an Indigenous Perth kid, was fatally attacked by four individuals, but they won’t go on trial for his murder until 2025.
On October 13, 2013, when Cassius, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji kid, headed home from school with friends, he was allegedly hunted down and struck with a metal rod.
His death in the hospital 10 days after receiving significant head injuries sparked a national outpouring of sadness and indignation, with some Indigenous leaders denouncing the alleged assault as cowardly and racist.
In May, Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 21, Mitchell Colin Forth, 25, Brodie Lee Palmer, 28, and Jack Steven James Brearley, 22, all entered not-guilty pleas to murder.
They appeared on Monday by video and audio link in the Perth Supreme Court, where Justice Joseph McGrath set their trial date for February 10 as a preliminary matter.
Due to the substantial amount of evidence the Crown is anticipated to present against the group, including CCTV footage, the trial is anticipated to last eight weeks, until April 7.
Ben Stanwix, the prosecutor, stated that the evidence brief should be submitted the next week.
Palmer, Forth, and Gilmore were remanded in custody until their next status conference on October 26.
Later on Monday, Brearley is expected to submit a bail application.
In the days before Cassius was beaten, he and Forth are charged together with another man named Ethan Robert MacKenzie, 19, for allegedly unlawfully detaining and injuring another 15-year-old child.
The same teen has been accused of being wrongfully detained by Gilmore.
MacKenzie will go on trial concurrently with the other defendants.
On the same day that Cassius was reportedly attacked, Brearley, Forth, and Palmer have all denied attacking another adolescent and robbing him of a baseball cap and crutches.
Gilmore has asserted his innocence despite being charged with beating the same youngster.
Brearley emerged from Perth’s southern Casuarina Prison, and Palmer, Forth, and MacKenzie emerged from Hakea Prison.
At Greenough Regional Prison, 400 kilometers north of Perth, Gilmore was detained.
Palmer, Forth, MacKenzie, and Gilmore were charged in January after Brearley was charged in October.
It has been said that Cassius was a devoted son who served as an example to his friends. before the age of 11, he received an invitation to present an acknowledgement of country before the WA parliament after starting his own lawn-mowing business.
On Monday, some of his family members were in court, but they chose not to talk with the media.
