The husband of a woman stabbed to death during a home invasion has described his nervous wait to learn whether a teen will be convicted of her murder.
Mother-of-two Emma Lovell, 41, was stabbed to death on the lawn outside her North Lakes home, north of Brisbane, after midnight on December 27, 2022 during a home invasion allegedly carried out by two 17-year-old boys.
One of the youths, now aged 18, this week pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of his judge-only trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
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Justice Michael Copley today following the end of the three-day trial said he would deliver verdicts “as soon as possible” and before early-November.
The youth also pleaded not guilty to armed break-in as well as malicious acts and assault occasioning bodily harm towards Ms Lovell’s husband Lee.
Mr Lovell said outside court he wanted to see the same outcome as the one handed to another teen charged over the home invasion, who pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in May.
“The last time it was just the sentencing. This time it was the trial. It was stressful. I was so nervous,” Mr Lovell said.
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The defendant who faced trial did not directly take part in the violence but was accused of murder based on claims he knew his cohort was armed with a knife.
Mr Lovell said the teen should be found responsible for his wife’s killing.
“My assumptions with a jury, there would have been more of an emotional aspect to it and it would have gone in our favour. As long as the judge is fair, I suppose, then you have just got to go along with it,” he said.
The outcome will depend heavily on Justice Copley’s interpretation of a few seconds of security camera footage taken from a camera above the Lovells’ front door.
The footage shows the accused teen entering the Lovells’ home at 11.30pm on the night of Boxing Day, with a Christmas wreath hanging on the door and decorative lights in the front yard.
Crown prosecutor David Nardone previously said the footage also showed the defendant looking at his cohort’s knife as it was held centimetres from his face.
Defence barrister Laura Reece said the Lovells’ camera was operating in infra-red mode at the time and the area would have appeared much darker to human eyesight and there was a suggestion her client was looking away from the knife.
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Reece, in her closing address today, said there was audio captured from a neighbour’s security camera that depicted her client trying to stop his cohort’s “gratuitous” stabbing and kicking of Lovell.
Lovell outside court said he did not feel angry towards his wife’s alleged killer while he sat nearby in court during the trial.
“It’s hard not to turn into a bitter, grieving husband, retaining anger all the time. You’ve got to move on with your life. Be a positive person for the kids,” he said.
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