The husband of a woman stabbed to death during a home invasion has described his nervous wait to find out whether a teenager will be convicted of her murder.
Emma Lovell, 41, a mother of two, was stabbed to death on the grass outside her home in North Lakes, north of Brisbane, after midnight on December 27, 2022 during a home invasion allegedly led to carried out by two 17-year-old boys.
One of the youths, now 18, pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of his trial before judges at the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
Judge Michael Copley said Wednesday after finishing the three-day trial that he would issue verdicts “as soon as possible” and before early November.
The youth also pleaded not guilty to armed home invasion, as well as malicious acts and assault occasioning bodily harm to Ms Lovell’s husband, Lee.
Lovell said outside court that he wanted to see the same outcome as that given to another teen accused of home invasion, who pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in May.
‘The last time was just the sentence. This time it was the trial. It was stressful. “I was very nervous,” Mr Lovell said.
The defendant who faced trial did not directly participate in the violence, but was charged with murder based on claims that he knew his cohort was armed with a knife.
Emma Lovell was murdered in a home invasion in December 2022, stabbed to death on her lawn
Lovell said the teenager on trial should be found responsible for his wife’s murder.
Lovell said the teenager should be found responsible for his wife’s murder.
‘My assumptions with a jury would have had a more emotional aspect and would have been in our favor. As long as the judge is fair, I guess, then you have to accept it,” he said.
The outcome will depend largely on Judge Copley’s interpretation of a few seconds of security camera footage taken from a camera above the Lovells’ front door.
Footage shows the accused teenager entering the Lovell home at 11.30pm on Boxing Day night, 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 while it was held inches from his face.
Lovell said it was difficult not to become a “bitter and grieving husband” after his wife’s death.
Defense solicitor Laura Reece said the Lovells’ camera was operating in infrared mode at the time and the area would have appeared much darker to the human eye and there was a suggestion her client was looking away from the knife.
Ms Reece, in her closing speech on Wednesday, said there was audio captured by a neighbour’s security camera showing her client trying to stop the “gratuitous” stabbing and kicking of Mr Lovell by his cohort.
Lovell, outside court, said he did not feel angry at his wife’s alleged killer as he sat near the courthouse during the trial.
‘It is difficult not to become a bitter and grieving husband, who retains anger all the time. You have to move on with your life. Be a positive person for children,’ he said.
