The judge has been informed that the adolescent accused of the murder of a mother-of-two during a home invasion saw the knife of his accomplice “centimetres from his face” just moments before the murder took place.
Emma Lovell was found dead at her North Lakes house, north of Brisbane, after midnight on December 27, 2022.
Today, a juvenile, who was 17 years old at the time of the accused acts, pleaded not guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court. Ms. Lovell’s husband, Lee, was kicked and stabbed in the back; the teenager pled not guilty to armed break-in, malicious actions, and assault causing bodily harm.
Recent media coverage regarding the juvenile’s criminal record and the fact that youth criminality is a major issue leading up to Saturday’s Queensland election led to the youth’s application for a judge-only trial being approved.
During today’s opening statement to Justice Michael Copley, crown prosecutor David Nardone claimed that the juvenile was not the primary perpetrator of the assaults on Emma and Lee Lovell.
“The primary liability of the accused is through the common purpose, by the time it was put into execution, to steal while armed with a knife,” stated Nardone.
“The acts of the co-offender were likely to endanger human life.”
According to Nardone, the adolescent was responsible for the other 17-year-old’s crimes because they broke into a house with knives and probably did it together.
After entering a guilty plea to murder in March, the second juvenile accused in Ms. Lovell’s killing was sentenced to fourteen years in prison in May.
In his statement, Nardone stated that on December 26, 2022, the defendant went to a youth hostel around 120 meters away from the Lovells’ house.
At about 11:30 p.m., the defendant and his companion allegedly retrieved a knife from the hostel and began walking down the street.
The prosecution told Justice Copley that the footage from the Lovells’ home security cameras will be pivotal in the case, and that he would witness the co-defendant testing the front door and finding it unlocked before the defendant came in.
“The accused’s accomplice gestures with his hand toward his face. “The distance between the blade and his face is just centimeters,” Nardone stated.
Prosecutors said the Lovells’ dogs alerted them to the presence of the two teens inside their home, which sparked an altercation that escalated to the front door.
On the front lawn, Ms. Lovell was fatally stabbed once in the chest.
Her spouse was assaulted with a knife and then kicked as he lay on the ground.
The defendant and his accomplice were apprehended after police canines followed the scent of his black hat, which Nardone said had been left on the Lovells’ front yard.
The prosecution would need to establish, according to defence lawyer Laura Reece, that the adolescent knew the other kid had a knife before the house invasion.
The last four days of the trial are scheduled to continue.
