Warning: This article contains the name and images of an Indigenous person who has died.
The mother of Cassius Turvey, Mechelle, has spoken powerful words outside the courthouse where her fifteen-year-old son’s murderers were found guilty, in a case that has sparked mass outrage.
“My son died for absolutely nothing,” she said. “His life was taken. He was hunted down for days… 15 years of age, my son has finally got justice. May he live for ever.”
After hearing the trial’s verdict, Mechelle said her “body just went numb with relief” but added that “justice, to me, will never be served because I don’t have my son, and he’s not coming back… They can just rot as far as I’m concerned”.
“I’m happy with everything else, three months of hell during this trial, listening to the amount of lies that have been put forward.”
A Noongar Yamatji boy, Cassius died of head injuries in hospital 10 days after being attacked in Perth’s eastern suburbs on October 13, 2022.
Four people were charged with his murder, and on Thursday, following a 12-week trial, Jack Steven James Brearley, 24, and Brodie Lee Palmer, 29, were found guilty. Mitchell Colin Forth, 27, was instead found guilty of manslaughter, and a woman who was with the three men in the moments before the attack was acquitted.
The two men, Brearley and Palmer, are due to return to court for sentencing hearing on 26 June.
Outside the court, Mechelle thanked the trial witnesses, most of whom were “young children that are scarred for life” and who had helped her son on the day.
“I’d like to thank all of Australia, people that know us, for all of their love and support,” she said.
The jury heard that the brutal assault of Cassius was “the end point of a complex series of events that had absolutely nothing to do with him”.
Prosecutors said someone had damaged Brearley’s car windows at one point, so the group had been “hunting for kids”.
Brearley was captured on CCTV footage saying “somebody smashed my car, they’re about to die”.
There is no suggestion that Cassius had any involvement in what happened to the car, but he was among the group of kids that were confronted by the three men while walking after school.
Brearley was caught on camera beating Cassius, who underwent surgeries in hospital in the days following. Cassius was struck at least twice with a metal pole, and the impact split his ear in half and caused his brain to bleed.
Caught on camera boasting about beating the child, the ABC reported that Bearley could be heard on a phone call saying “he was laying in the field and I was just smacking him with a trolley pole so hard, he learnt his lesson”.
In court, Brearley denied he struck Cassius with a pole, saying he only punched him in self defense and that Palmer did the striking. Palmer subsequently denied this, blaming Brearley for the murder.
Cassius’s death has shocked the community and the nation, described by some, including prime minister Anthony Albanese, as racially motivated. Prosecutor Ben Stanwix said this was not the case, however, in his opening remarks.
Speaking to the BBC previously, Mechelle described her son as beloved in the local community. “He was funny. He loved posing,” Mechelle said, showing photos of Cassius smiling.
Following his killing in 2022, national and international vigils were held for Cassius, as thousands of people shared in grief and anger.