He pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Throughout the morning, he showed little emotion, staring ahead.
Wearing a white button-down shirt, the boy sat quietly in the dock, in front of his supporters and the Lovell family.
As the first witness in the trial, Mr Lovell, at times emotional, told the Brisbane court he struggled with the boys as he yelled at them to get out of his home.
The struggle spilled out onto the front lawn.
“I tried to get [one teenager] to the ground and then, I’m not sure if I stumbled, or I was pushed, I ended up on the ground, and that’s when I was kicked in the head two or three times, in the body as well.
“And then after that stopped, I remember getting to my knees and seeing one of the people run to my truck, and had fallen over and was getting up.”
He said he looked at his wife, who was still standing.
“Then I realised my youngest daughter was standing at the front door, so I asked her to go get my phone … she ran.
“By the time I looked back at Emma I believe she was sitting on the ground with her knees up, you know, with her head towards her knees.”
Mr Lovell said at that time, he did not see his wife’s injury.
“I didn’t notice it until [youngest daughter] pointed it out when she came back,” Mr Lovell said, his voice breaking.
Emma Lovell was killed and her husband was injured during the confrontation at their North Lakes home.
In his opening address, Crown Prosecutor David Nardone said the two teenagers had a common intention to steal that night, when they left their home on the same street as the Lovells.
He said the co-offender who stabbed Mrs Lovell had a knife earlier in the night.
It was conceded, however, that there was no direct evidence the accused on trial this week knew about the knife before the invasion of the Lovell house.
Nardone said when the boys arrived at the home, CCTV footage showed the co-offender moving his hand while holding the knife, appearing “to place it directly in front of the accused’s face”.
The prosecutor said security cameras from neighbours across the road recorded audio of the incident.
“That will be played during the course of the trial and includes statements being made by one of the two accused, of ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you’,” he said.
Those neighbours, and several police officers, were expected to give evidence.
Barrister Laura Reece, representing the accused teenager, said Justice Copley would also be able to hear the words “stop, stop, stop, stop”, on the audio, at the point her client was running over to the first teenager, who was at that time kicking Mr Lovell on the ground.
“In my submission, footage is useful but sometimes difficult to draw a firm conclusion as to what is seen in it,” Reece said.
She said the prosecution had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that her client had knowledge of the knife.
The trial continues.
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