Teen home invasion killer’s sentence reduced on appeal
A teenage boy who fatally stabbed a mother-of-two during a home invasion will face less time in detention despite his crimes “provoking a sense of outrage”.
A teenager who murdered a mother of two in a Christmas holiday home invasion has had his sentence cut by almost 18 months on appeal.
The boy, who cannot be named as he was aged 17 at the time of the offences, fatally stabbed Emma Lovell in the heart after he broke into her family’s house north of Brisbane about 11.30pm on Boxing Day in 2022.
In May 2024, Justice Tom Sullivan sentenced the teen, then aged 19, to a maximum of 14 years with a requirement to serve 70 per cent of that time in detention, after he found the crime to be “particularly heinous”.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal allowed the teen’s appeal against the length of his sentence, finding it was “manifestly excessive”.
Justice David Boddice found the 14-year sentence should stand but reduced the detention period to 60 per cent.
He cited the teen’s guilty plea, “genuine remorse and prospects of rehabilitation” as special circumstances justifying his release from detention after serving less than the statutory 70 per cent.
Lovell’s husband Lee, who was wounded during the home invasion, was unable to attend court on Friday when the appeal decision was handed down.
The home invasion led to “adult crime, adult time”‘ changes in Queensland law that allow for youth offenders to face a mandatory life sentence for murder with a minimum 20 years before parole.
The teen had appealed Sullivan’s “particularly heinous” finding in a bid to get his overall sentence reduced to 10 years.
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However, Boddice found Sullivan’s decision to impose the maximum overall sentence available at the time to be “plainly correct”.
“The death of an entirely innocent person, on their own front lawn, as the consequence of a knife attack by a youthful offender .. is properly described as provoking a sense of outrage,” Boddice stated.
The teen has five years left to serve in detention after 500 days of pre-sentence custody in May 2024 were recognised as time served.
The teen’s male co-offender, also a juvenile, was acquitted of murder at a judge-only trial in October.
He was found guilty of burglary and the assault of Lee Lovell. In December, he was sentenced to 18 months’ detention – time he has served.
