Australian teenager cleared of murdering British woman who confronted intruders during home break-in
31 October 2024, 08:48 | Updated: 31 October 2024, 08:54
A teenager has been cleared of murdering a British woman who was stabbed to death during a break-in at her home in Australia.
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Emma Lovell, 41, was killed in North Lakes, Queensland, on Boxing Day in 2022 while fending off two intruders.
The mother died of a single stab wound to her heart and another man, who cannot be named because he was under 18 at the time of the attack, was jailed for 14 years in May after pleading guilty to her murder.
A second man, who was 17 at the time of the attack and also cannot be named, appeared at Brisbane's Supreme Court last week.
Justice Michael Copley, who heard the case without a jury, found the man not guilty of murder on Thursday, as well as a malicious act with intent and unlawful wounding.
He found the defendant guilty of burglary and assault.
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"I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was a party to this murder," the judge said.
Mrs Lovell had emigrated to Australia from Suffolk in 2011 with her husband Lee, who survived the attack, and their two daughters.
In his sentencing remarks in the original trial, Justice Tom Sullivan said Mrs Lovell was described as "an energetic and beloved mother, wife, daughter, and sister".
The court heard the couple had attempted to fend off the intruders after they were woken by their dogs barking at about 11.30pm.
Mr Lovell was injured during a "physical struggle directly outside the front door" which then moved to the front lawn, where his wife was fatally stabbed.
Although the defendant was found guilty of burglary, he was cleared of the circumstance of aggravation of being armed with an offensive weapon.
The prosecution argued that the accused "had knowledge at the time of the commission of all of the offences that his co-offender was in possession of a knife", according to the judgment.
But Justice Copley said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant knew his co-offender, "H", was armed with a knife.
The judge also found he could not be sure to the criminal standard that the man was "a party to this murder", nor that he was a party to unlawfully wounding Mr Lovell or committing a malicious act with intent.
The defendant was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company after the judge was satisfied that he was present on the lawn when "H" assaulted Mr Lovell "for the purpose of physically participating, if necessary, in the assault".
