A teenager who broke into the home of Emma Lovell, alongside another teen who stabbed her to death, has been found not guilty of murder in a case that shocked Queensland in December 2022.
The 18-year-old – who cannot be named for legal reasons as he was 17 on the night Lovell was killed – was found guilty of burglary and assault occasioning bodily harm in a Brisbane court on Thursday.
Lovell was murdered by the teenager’s companion on the lawn outside her North Lakes home, north of Brisbane’s CBD, on 27 December 2022.
The teenager is being remanded in custody while a pre-sentencing report is prepared by the Queensland youth justice department and will be sentenced by Justice Michael Copley on 4 December.
Last month he pleaded not guilty to four charges, including murder and assault occasioning bodily harm.
Due to the high-profile nature of the case, the murder trial was held before a judge rather than a jury, with Justice Copley alone determining the man’s fate.
In May, his accomplice in the home invasion, was found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in prison for the “particularly heinous” murder of Emma Lovell in Brisbane in 2022. He was 17 at the time of the murder.