Emma Lovell death: Teen guilty assault, burglary in violent home invasion walks free
CCTV has revealed the moment two teens enter Emma Lovell’s home, minutes before she was slain. WATCH NOW
Police & Courts
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Chilling porch security camera vision shows the moment two youths sneak into a North Lakes home on Boxing Day 2022, moments later a struggle breaks out inside and spills out onto the front lawn, where mother-of-two Emma Lovell was fatally stabbed.
It can be revealed one of the juveniles had been on a four-month crime spree of stealing, break-ins and car thefts – in some cases while the residents were home – which culminated in the violent home invasion at Emma Lovell’s home.
Despite being convicted of 21 charges – taking his rap sheet total to 104 offences – the boy walked free from custody due to time already served, prompting Emma’s widow Lee Lovell to say outside court that he was “pretty let down as always”.
The youth – who cannot be identified, but was 17 at the time and is now 19 – was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 months’ jail for burglary and assault at the Lovell’s home, but he was freed due to already having served 710 days in pre-sentence custody.
After confronting and forcing the two youths out of their home, 41-year-old Emma Lovell was stabbed by a juvenile primary offender – who has already been sentenced to 14 years’ jail for murder. But he is appealing his sentence.
The second boy, who was sentenced in Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday, was charged as an accomplice to all alleged offences. He did not wield the knife and was not directly involved in the struggle on the lawn.
The case went to a three-day judge-only trial, with his legal team arguing he was not guilty of Mrs Lovell’s murder because he did not know the primary offender had a knife.
Justice Michael Copley found him not guilty of murder and the alternative of manslaughter, and not guilty of a malicious act with intent and wounding. The youth was only found guilty of burglary and assault.
In the courtroom for his sentencing, Lee Lovell addressed the teenager.
“I feel like Boxing Day 2022 was like a sliding door moment for us – our lives were going in one direction, but here I am because of the actions of you and your co-offender,” he said.
“I’m now forced to play the role of a grieving husband, the victim of assault, and a father trying to make his family feel safe in their home again.
“Unfortunately significant milestones in our daughters’ lives such as birthdays, graduations, careers, getting married, and having children won’t be what it was supposed to be.”
Mr Lovell said he and his late wife had planned to take their two daughters to the area in Italy where they had got married, to commemorate their 20th wedding anniversary in 2026.
“Unfortunately Emma won’t be there to enjoy what would have been a milestone moment for us,” he said.
Crown prosecutor David Nardone said the boy’s rap sheet included property offences, violent robberies, and assaults.
“[The defendant has shown] a willingness to continue to involve himself in offences of violence, offending commonly committed in company and regardless of the existence of court orders, and returning to offending soon after being released from detention,” he said.
The most serious of the 19 summary offences unrelated to Mrs Lovell was on November 8, 2022 when the youth – freshly released on bail for other offences – went to a home in Carina Heights while the female resident was there, climbed in through a window, stole her wallet and keys to her car parked in the street, and fled in her stolen vehicle.
In the months prior to breaking into Mrs Lovell’s home, the juvenile stole from liquor stores on multiple occasions. The court also heard that police almost arrested him in a stolen car in a shopping centre carpark, but he sped away, forcing officers to jump out of harm’s way.
He was charged with another vehicle theft after police found photos on his phone of him posing with a stolen vehicle just days before Mrs Lovell’s death.
“Since October 2020 when you were aged 14 you have committed and been subject to three probation orders, two community service orders, three graffiti removal notices, a restorative justice order, and a detention order,” Justice Copley summarised.
“These orders relate to 104 offences – the first having been committed in November 2019 when you were aged 13.”
The court heard the teenager was the eldest of six children, his father had been in and out of jail, he had been exposed to domestic violence and drug use, he was neglected and taken into the care of the Department of Child Safety in 2019, and he had cognitive impairments.
“None of this excuses your offending, but it puts it in a broader context,” Justice Copley said.
During sentencing, the juvenile only had convictions recorded on the two charges related to Mrs Lovell, and the three charges related to the Carina Heights crime.
Justice Copley also did not declare him a serious repeat offender because “there is no point … now you are no longer a child”.
Outside court, Lee Lovell said “it doesn’t feel like we’ve got much of a justice system” and spoke about his ongoing fear that criminals will target his home once again.
“There are times you hear a noise or something outside and I’m instantly reaching for my phone [to check his security camera feeds] to see what’s going on, I can’t get away from that feeling of someone being in the house again,” he said.
The court heard that while in youth detention, the juvenile had expressed regret and remorse for his offending and harm caused, but Mr Lovell was having none of it.
“I don’t believe that’s genuine, I think he’s probably just saying that to get the judge onside,” he said.
The now 19-year-old walked from the Supreme Court on Wednesday night with his lawyer almost four hours after his sentencing had finished.
His family, who were in court to support him, were long gone.
The youth had done a full outfit change, ditching the black T-shirt he wore in court for a white business shirt with a suit jacket tied on his head to hide his face from waiting cameras.
In reaction to the sentencing, State Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the case “laid bare the horrifying realities of Queensland’s youth crime crisis”.
“I know this sentence will not meet community expectations, it does not meet mine,” she said.
“I will be considering all aspects of today’s sentencing and obtaining further advice about the legal options available to me.
“This is why the Making Queensland Safer Laws are the Crisafulli Government’s absolute priority.”
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