Cassius Turvey’s ‘vigilante’ killers face life in prison for ‘horrendous’ crime

The two men who murdered Indigenous schoolboy Cassius Turvey in Perth’s north-east have been jailed for life with minimum parole periods of 22 and 18 years. A third man has been jailed for 12 years for manslaughter and other related charges.

Jack Brearley and Brodie Palmer were each found guilty of the 2022 murder after a three-month trial earlier this year, but Brearley was on Friday singled out as having delivered the killing blows.

Brodie Palmer (inset bottom), Jack Brearley (top), have been sentenced for murder over the death of Cassius Turvey.Credit: WAtoday/Supplied

Chief Justice Peter Quinlan told the Supreme Court of WA that Brearley killed Cassius during a fit of “sheer rage and uncontrollable violence”, and Palmer “shared a common purpose” to incite violence and was therefore equally culpable.

He added the assaults were committed “as part of vigilante activity … against innocent children”.

“None of your victims had done anything whatsoever to any of you,” he said.

“It would be bad enough for you to commit these offences if your victims had actually done anything, but in this case none of them had.

Cassius’ mother Mechelle Turvey outside court.Credit: Rebecca Peppiatt

“Your vigilante justice was completely misdirected.”

Mitchell Forth, 26, who was found guilty of manslaughter, was sentenced to 10 years, reduced to nine for mitigating circumstances, plus an extra two years for other offences committed in the days leading up to Cassius’ death.

Cassius, 15, was murdered in October 2022 while he was walking home from school in the Perth suburb of Middle Swan.

He was bashed with the metal handle of a broken shopping trolley after being chased across a reserve by the men, who mistakenly believed he was part of a group responsible for smashing the windows on Brearley’s car in the days prior.

His death sent shockwaves through the country, with thousands gathering at vigils in the days after he died.

Cassius’ mother, Mechelle Turvey, provided a harrowing victim impact statement in court on Thursday, speaking on her “immeasurable” grief.

She said the actions of the three men were racially motivated. As part of his sentencing on Friday, Judge Quinlan said the actions of the group would have an impact on the wider Aboriginal community.

Cassius Turvey was 15 when he died. His family gave permission for his photo to be used.

“Police did not allege it was racially motivated – that was entirely proper,” he said.

“Your crimes were not racially motivated and you will not be sentenced on the basis that they were.

“Nevertheless I want to make it clear, at the time the offences were committed a number of you used racially charged language referring to a number of the kids using racial slurs, calling them ‘N’ words and black c---s.”

He opened his remarks by comparing Cassius to the great Cassius Clay, boxer Muhammed Ali, saying the 15-year-old showed great promise before being robbed of his life.

“It would be very easy for me to simply say that you are monsters and ignore your personal circumstances,” he said.

“The truth, however is that you are not monsters. The awful truth is you are human beings, with your own life history, who have committed horrendous crimes.

“Until we as a community accept that people who commit horrendous crimes like yours are fellow human beings and not monsters, we will have little hope in preventing such crimes from happening again and again.”

During four hours of sentencing remarks, Quinlan outlined the events that culminated in Cassius’ death, around the eastern suburbs of Swan View and Middle Swan: arranged fights over girls, revenge assaults, and misguided “protection” of younger siblings that resulted in kidnappings, stabbings and bashings of other children.

“A disturbing feature of this trial was how it normalised violence in our community,” he said.

“As if arranging and watching fights was a completely normal thing to do.

Aleesha Gilmore was found innocent of murder.Credit: 9 News Perth

“When violence becomes normalised in a society horrific events like this will keep happening.”

Aleesha Gilmore, the ex-girlfriend of Brearley, was found not guilty of the murder or manslaughter of Cassius, but guilty of other offences in the lead-up to his death. She was given a conditional suspended sentence of 15 months for those offences, with six months to be spent on a curfew.

Outside court Cassius’ mother said she was happy with the men’s sentences but disappointed with Gilmore’s.

Quinlan said threats and assaults Gilmore had experienced in prison pointed to the fact that “there are people who will always hold you morally responsible for [Cassius’] death.”

A fifth person, 20-year-old Ethan Mackenzie, was also handed a 2½ year sentence for his involvement in a spate of crimes in the days before Cassius died. He was not implicated in Cassius’ murder.

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