Cassius Turvey’s devastated mother calls on chief judge to throw ‘the lot’ at her son’s murderers

Cassius Turvey’s devastated mother has told her son’s murderers how she wrestles every day with the “unbearable weight of knowing he didn’t get to live the life that he deserved”. Mechelle Turvey refused to look at them in the eye as she delivered her heartbreaking victim impact statement in the Supreme Court on Thursday, instead directing her gaze at the judge. Outside the sentencing hearing, she said she was “so happy I won’t be seeing their faces again”. Cassius, 15, died from bleeding on the brain 10 days after he was attacked by Jack Brearley, 24, and Brodie Palmer, 30, in Middle Swan on October 13, 2022. Ms Turvey wept as she said they racially vilified young Aboriginal people as they hunted for whoever smashed Brearley’s car windows. They had shattered the innocence of all of the community’s youths, she said. “These children who should be experiencing the joys of childhood have instead been thrust into a world of pain and fear,” Ms Turvey said. “The actions of the accused have torn at the very fabric of society, leaving wounds that will take years, decades, lifetimes to heal and recover.” Brearley and Palmer blamed each other for inflicting the fatal blows with a metal pole ripped from a shopping trolley but were both convicted of murder last month following an epic three-month trial. Chief Justice Peter Quinlan said his provisional view was that Brearley had done it, but he could not satisfied there was an intent to kill. The judge characterised his “attempts to lie his way out of responsibility” as “laughable”. And while the State did not run the argument that racism was motivation, racist slurs the group slung around had created “a legitimate sense these kids were targeted because they were Aboriginal”, the judge said. It was the culmination of days of rolling mayhem among neighbourhood youths, including the assault and unlawful detention of a different 15-year-old boy on October 9, 2022. Brearley’s ex-girlfriend Aleesha Gilmore, 23, and Ethan Robert MacKenzie, 21, were each convicted of three offences over that incident. But she was acquitted of any involvement in Cassius’ death, while Mitchell Forth, 27, was found guilty of his manslaughter. Asked about jail terms, Ms Turvey told reporters she hoped the judge would hand the offenders “the lot”. She said the void in her family could never be filled. “There are no words that can fully capture the devastation of losing someone you love to violence,” Ms Turvey told the court. “No parent should have to visit the grave of an innocent 15-year-old child who did nothing wrong. “Cassius was only a baby, a gentle giant who will be forever 15. “We will never see him grow into the remarkable person he was destined to become. “He was loved by all that knew him. “He was my future, my family, my home. The day he was taken from us is the day my world shattered. “It’s not just the absence of his presence, it’s the silence where his laughter used to be, the emptiness in moments we were supposed to share and the unbearable weight of knowing he didn’t get to live the life that he deserved. “I will never see him grow older, never hear his voice again, never feel the comfort of his embrace. “The pain is constant and the grief is immeasurable.” The shocking crime came just two months after Cassius’ father Sam died from cancer and sparked rallies and vigils across the nation.