Two men have been sentenced to life over the 2022 Perth murder of Noongar teenager Cassius Turvey.
Another man has been sentenced to 12 years on a charge of manslaughter.
In court on Friday, Justice Peter Quinlan told the accused: “Cassius Turvey was completely and utterly innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever. The only reason that he was the person killed by you... was that he was the person you happened to catch.”
Background
Cassius Turvey was walking home from school with friends in east Perth when a group of adults chased him down in October 2022.
At trial this year, the court heard 21-year-old Jack Brearley beat Cassius with a metal pole while 26-year-old Brodie Palmer held him down. Palmer gave evidence he tried to save Cassius.
The 15-year-old Noongar boy later died of his injuries in hospital.
The court heard that during Palmer’s police interview, he vomited when he was shown images of Cassius’ injuries.
Last month, Brearley and Palmer were found guilty of murdering Cassius.
Another man, Mitchell Forth, was convicted of manslaughter.
All three had pleaded not guilty.
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Aleesha Gilmore, Brearley’s then-girlfriend, was acquitted of a charge of murder, but found guilty of other charges related to a different incident before the murder.
Another man, Ethan MacKenzie, was found guilty of assault over the other incident.
Racism
Cassius’ mother Mechelle Turvey gave a victim impact statement ahead of the sentencing.
She said her son’s murder “thrust” her and her community “into a world of pain”.
Mechelle added: “If anyone thinks their actions weren’t racially motivated, many Australians would be left scratching their heads.”
In the days after Cassius’ death, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack “clearly racially motivated”.
The prosecution did not argue the attack was motivated by race.
However, Justice Quinlan said he did consider racism in his sentencing.
Quinlan said Brearley had called the children the n-word and “black c**ts,” causing “justifiable fear for them and for the broader community that this was a racially motivated attack.”
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