Four people accused of fatally bashing Indigenous teenager Cassius Turvey as he walked home from school in Perth have returned to court.
Cassius, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, was allegedly chased down and attacked with a metal pole as he was walking with friends on October 13, 2022.
He suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital 10 days later, triggering an outpouring of grief and anger across the nation, with some Indigenous leaders condemning the alleged assault as cowardly and racist.
Brodie Lee Palmer, 27, Mitchell Colin Forth, 24, Jack Steven James Brearley, 21, and Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 20, have been charged with murder over the death.
They briefly appeared on Wednesday via video-link in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court when their cases were mentioned.
None have entered pleas in response to the charge and all were remanded in custody until May 24 for another mention ahead of a committal hearing.
Brearley sat with his arms crossed and watched proceedings from Casuarina Prison dressed in a green tracksuit. His co-accused were also silent.
Palmer and Forth, appeared from Hakea Prison, and Gilmore was in Greenough Regional Prison, about 400km north of Perth.
Brearley was charged in October, before Palmer, Forth and Gilmore were charged in January.
Police allege the trio were with Brearley during the assault on the teen. The court heard Brearley’s case was ready to proceed to a committal hearing and lawyers were preparing documents for the other three cases.
Brearley, Forth and Gilmore are also facing charges for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting another 15-year-old boy in the days before Cassius was attacked.
The boy was allegedly chased down on October 9 and punched, kicked and stabbed before being taken to a house where he was detained for a period of time.
All three have been charged with detaining another with intent to compel the doing of an act. Brearley and Forth are also charged with aggravated unlawful wounding.
Cassius has been remembered as a loving son and a role model to his friends. He had started his own lawn-mowing business and was invited at age 11 to deliver an acknowledgement of country at the WA parliament.
His mother, Mechelle Turvey, attended court in January with more than a dozen family and supporters when Palmer, Forth and Gilmore made their first appearance.
“It took me back to the day when it happened … to when Cassius described the incident and what they looked like,” she told reporters outside court.
“This is just one step forward to justice for Cassius (and) it’s also one step forward for all of our healing, all of his family.”
– AAP
