A teenager accused of killing Queensland mother Emma Lovell during a Boxing Day home invasion has been found not guilty of murder by a Supreme Court judge.
Wearing a white button-down shirt, the teenager, who will turn 19 next month, sat quietly and faced straight ahead in the dock, with family behind him, as Justice Michael Copley delivered his verdict.
Copley found the teenager not guilty of Lovell’s murder, and not guilty in the alternative of manslaughter.
But he found him guilty of assault and burglary.
Last week, the teenager faced a trial without a jury, after a ruling that members of the community would be influenced by the debate on youth crime, with his court proceedings held the same week as the Queensland election.
The teenager, who was 17 at the time, pleaded not guilty to Lovell’s murder, burglary, unlawful assault, and unlawful wounding.
The court last week heard how Lovell and her husband, Lee, woke to the sound of their dogs barking, before coming face-to-face with intruders in their hallway outside their bedroom.
They struggled with the teenager and his co-accused to get them out of their house, with the altercation spilling onto the front lawn.
The co-accused, and main offender, was sentenced to 14 years’ jail this year, and was responsible for stabbing Lovell in the heart.
Teen accused of killing Qld mum Emma Lovell found not guilty of murder