A judgment has revealed why a teenager involved in a horrific break-in during which a mum of two was stabbed to death in front of her husband was cleared of her murder.
Cameras captured both teens brawling with Ms Lovell and her husband Lee – the fight spilling onto the family home’s driveway before one of the teens, 17, stabbed her in the chest.
Mr Lovell was also kicked and stabbed by the same child. Both boys then fled as Ms Lovell died from her wounds.
The 17-year-old who inflicted the fatal wound on Ms Lovell pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 14 years’ jail earlier this year.
But his co-accused, also 17, was found not guilty of murder, the alternative count of manslaughter and a charge of malicious act with intent following a judge-only trial at Brisbane Supreme Court in late October.
He was instead found guilty of burglary in company and assault occasioning bodily harm in company.
In his 19-page judgment, Supreme Court Justice Michael Copley said he could not be satisfied the second teenager was a party to the murder because he did not know his co-accused had come to the home packing the deadly weapon.
Emma Lovell died after being stabbed by a teenager during a home invasion in North Lakes on Boxing Day 2022
A grief-stricken Lee Lovell spoke to reporters after a judge found the second teenager involved in the break-in not guilty of his wife’s murder. Picture: NewsWire
CCTV glance not enough to establish charge: Judge
The teenager had pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, burglary in company, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious act with intent at the start of his trial.
The Crown did not allege he caused the fatal injury to Ms Lovell but that he was a party to the offence and had formed a ‘common intention’ with his co-accused to prosecute an unlawful purpose – namely, to ‘steal property from within the dwelling … while armed with a knife’.
Prosecutors argued murder was a probable consequence of this.
They relied on CCTV that captured the teenager moments before entering the Lovells’ home turning his head towards his co-accused, who was then armed with the 115cm knife he later used to murder Ms Lovell.
It was alleged by the Crown this was the moment the second teenager would have seen the knife.
But the teenager’s defence barrister Laura Reece said this could not be proved based on the vision.
CCTV captured the Lovells brawling with the teen intruders when they entered their unlocked home north of Brisbane in the early hours of December 26, 2022.
In his judgment, Justice Copley said the infrared camera at the Lovells’ North Lakes home captured the primary offender slightly opening the door and then closing it before signalling to the other teenager with his thumb up.
The primary offender then disappeared from the main view, returning behind the teenager and removing the knife from his bag
‘While the accused was still in the range of the camera, but within the house, I saw him turn to his left,’ Justice Copley said.
‘His right hand removed a mobile phone from his right side and that hand moved in an upwards movement closer to where his face seemed to be.
‘When this occurred … (the primary offender) still had the knife up in the air in his hand.’
Justice Copley said he could not see the teenager look at the knife his co-accused was holding.
‘From what I could determine, from what I perceived was the accused’s left ear, the accused’s face remained facing down towards his phone before he turned back to the way he had been facing to go further into the house,’ he said.
The tragic death of mum-of-two Emma Lovell in her own home shocked the North Lakes community. Pictured are tributes at the scene
‘A reasonable possibility remains open on the evidence that the accused did not see or know of the knife.’
Justice Copley continued by saying there was nothing to suggest the teenager activated a torch on his phone.
He said he could not be satisfied any light would be sufficient enough to allow the teenager to see the knife, and therefore he would not have been aware his co-accused was armed.
Justice Copley returned not guilty verdicts on murder and the alternative manslaughter charges and not guilty on the malicious act with intent charge.
The teenager will be sentenced in December.
Outside court, Mr Lovell said he didn’t feel like he got ‘one bit’ of justice for his slain wife, saying he and his family had been dealt a life sentence because of Ms Lovell’s murder.
Teen’s shock rap sheet before mum’s murder
Before he murdered Ms Lovell, the teenager who inflicted the fatal wound had racked up an astonishing 84 convictions since he was 15.
His arrest for Ms Lovell’s murder was his first stint in custody.
The teenager, who turned 19 while in custody awaiting sentence for Ms Lovell’s murder, had convictions relating to break-ins or attempted break-ins of homes or cars.
Sixteen of them involved unlawful entry or attempted entry of premises – two of which involved homes with the families still inside.
In his published remarks in May, Justice Tom Sullivan said the child was confronted by an owner and fled on one occasion.
Eleven offences were for unlawful entry or use of vehicles.
The teenager who inflicted the fatal wound on Ms Lovell (left) was jailed for 14 years after pleading guilty to her murder
The teenager was never placed in custody, instead receiving probation orders that lasted anywhere between three to nine months.
Justice Sullivan said those probation periods involved weekly meetings with a Youth Justice case worker, lasting anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour.
The teenager had been taking part in module-based learning programs to change his behaviour, with a view to reduce ‘future offending’.
He was on one of these probation orders at the time he murdered Ms Lovell.
During his sentencing, Justice Copley found the attack on the Lovells to be a ‘particularly heinous’ offence, which allowed him to jail the teenager for more than the maximum 10-year jail term that can be imposed under Queensland’s Youth Justice Act.
Prosecutors had previously pushed for this in the circumstances the teenager was on probation and had arrived at the Lovells’ home armed with the knife.
With time already served, the teenager will need to serve nine years and 292 days in custody or 70 per cent of the sentence.
