Teen accused of killing North Lakes mum Emma Lovell found not guilty of murder

A teenager accused of killing Queensland mother Emma Lovell during a Boxing Day home invasion has been found not guilty of murder by a Supreme Court judge.

Wearing a white button-down shirt, the teenager, who will turn 19 next month, sat quietly and faced straight ahead in the dock, with family behind him, as Justice Michael Copley delivered his verdict.

Copley found the teenager not guilty of Lovell’s murder, and not guilty of the alternative, manslaughter. He was also found not guilty of unlawful wounding.

Emma Lovell died after being stabbed in the heart during a home invasion.

When Lovell’s husband, Lee, heard the verdict in the court, he gasped and leant forward in shock.

Copley found the teenager guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm and burglary in company. He was found not guilty of aggravated burglary.

Last week, the teenager faced a trial without a jury after a ruling that members of the community would be influenced by the debate on youth crime, especially with his court proceedings held the same week as the Queensland election.

The teenager, who was 17 at the time, pleaded not guilty to Lovell’s murder, burglary, unlawful assault, and unlawful wounding.

The court last week heard how Lovell and her husband woke to the sound of their dogs barking, before coming face-to-face with intruders in their hallway outside their bedroom.

They struggled with the teenager and his co-accused to get them out of their house, with the altercation spilling onto the front lawn.

Lee Lovell outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday afternoon.Credit: Cloe Read

The co-accused, and main offender, was sentenced to 14 years’ jail this year, and was responsible for stabbing Lovell in the heart.

Lee Lovell said at one point when he looked back at his wife, she was sitting on the ground with her knees up, with her head towards her knees. At that stage outside in the dark, he did not realise she had suffered critical injuries.

The prosecution said the pair had broken into the Lovells’ home with a common intention to steal, and the court was shown video of the primary offender appearing to place a knife directly in front of the second teenager’s face. This action meant the accused was aware of the weapon before entering the home, crown prosecutor David Nardone said.

Defence barrister Laura Reece argued her client only partially turned at the time, and the footage was captured by a camera operating in infrared, meaning the scene was much darker to human eyes.

In his published reasons, Copley said he was satisfied that the main offender had committed the murder.

“I am, however, not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the [teenager] was a party to this murder,” he said.

This was because while both had formed the common intention to steal from the house, Copley was not satisfied both had done so with the intention of being armed with a knife.

He said he could not be satisfied the teenager knew the main offender had a knife in his possession.

“I cannot see that the accused looked at or towards the knife [the main offender] was holding,” Copley said in describing what he could see on the footage.

He also said there was nothing to suggest the accused turned on his phone’s torch, or even if it had one, but regardless, he could not be satisfied he was looking in the direction of the knife.

Outside court, Lee Lovell said he did not feel the verdict was justice for his wife. He said he felt like the teenager would “walk out the door before I do”.

“That’s not how I thought today was going to go,” he said. “We are the ones with a life sentence now.”

The teenager will be sentenced in December, with youth justice to prepare a pre-sentence report in the coming weeks.

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