Haunting CCTV captured screams of ‘I’ll kill you’ and ‘stop’ moments before a mother-of-two was stabbed to death on her doorstep on Boxing Day.
Emma Lovell, 41, was knifed on the lawn outside her North Lakes home, north of Brisbane, after midnight on December 27, 2022 during a home invasion carried out by two 17-year-old boys.
Home security cameras caught the moment both teens brawled with Ms Lovell and her husband Lee on the family’s driveway before one of the teens stabbed her in the chest, fatally piercing her heart.
The same boy also stabbed and kicked Mr Lovell before the pair of them fled.
The 17-year-old who inflicted the fatal wound pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 14 years in jail.
However, his co-accused was cleared of murder and was instead convicted of burglary and assault occasioning bodily harm in company during a Judge-only trial in October.
He is due to be sentenced in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon.
In his judgment, Supreme Court Justice Michael Copley revealed the words ‘I’ll kill you’ could be heard in audio from the CCTV of the incident, along with the word ‘stop’ being yelled repeatedly, reported The Australian.
Emma Lovell (pictured), 41, was knifed on the lawn outside her North Lakes home, north of Brisbane , after midnight on December 27, 2022 during a home invasion carried out by two 17-year-old boys
Home security cameras caught the moment both teens brawled with Ms Lovell and her husband Lee (pictured) on the family’s driveway before one of the teens stabbed her in the chest, fatally piercing her heart. The same boy also stabbed and kicked Mr Lovell before the pair of them fled
The legal team representing the child who did not deliver the fatal blow argued that their client was the one shouting ‘stop’.
Mr and Mrs Lovell, who are both British, moved to Australia from Ipswich, Suffolk, in 2011 after first visiting the country in 2002.
In his sentencing remarks in the original trial, Justice Tom Sullivan said Mrs Lovell was described as ‘an energetic and beloved mother, wife, daughter, and sister’.
The court heard the couple had attempted to fend off the intruders after they had been woken by their dogs barking at about 11.30pm.
Mr Lovell was also stabbed during a ‘physical struggle directly outside the front door’ which then moved to the front lawn, where his wife was fatally stabbed.
The mother-of-two, originally from Hasketon, moved to Australia to have the chance to have a ‘better life’ for her family, according to her brother David Angel, who spoke to the BBC.
Mrs Lovell, her husband and their two daughters, Kassie and Scarlett, then 14 and 15, celebrated Christmas Day 2022 by eating a special meal at the local beach.
Her husband wrote in a Facebook post on Christmas Day 2022, the day before she died: ‘So for the first time in 11 years we spent Christmas day on the beach and even managed to cook up some bacon and eggs!’
Mrs Lovell, her husband and their two daughters, Kassie and Scarlett, then 14 and 15 (pictured), celebrated Christmas Day 2022 by eating a special meal at the local beach.
‘Hope everyone has a great Christmas day spent with loved ones and friends.’
Hours after the post – when the family had returned home to their bungalow in North Lakes, Brisbane – they woke up to find intruders in the hallway.
Mr Lovell had just forced one of the men out of the house when he heard his daughter say ‘mummy’s bleeding’.
‘I remember thinking at the time, ”I can’t die, I can’t leave the kids orphans”’, he recalled.
Mr Lovell called his late wife ‘beautiful, amazing’ and said he regularly found himself breaking down in tears while he was driving due to the pain of losing her.
‘Emma was the glue in our family, she was funny, smart, so caring, would do anything for anyone,’ Mr Lovell previously told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She died trying to protect me and our family.’
