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WARNING: Aboriginal readers of the Strait of Torres are informed that this story contains an image of a deceased person.
A man accused of killing an indigenous teenager with a metal post told a jury that it was his partner who hit the child and only hit him.
Cassius Turvey, a Yamatji boy to Noongar, 15, died 10 days after prosecutors say he was persecuted and “deliberately hit his head” with a metal pose in the Eastern Suburbs of Perth on October 13, 2022.
Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 23, her boyfriend Jack Steven James Bearley, 24, and his friends, Brodie Lee Palmer, 29, and Mitchell Colin, 26, are judged by Cassius’s murder.
Giving evidence in his own defense, Bearley said he pursued Cassius towards a stream and after the teenager decreased speed and stumbled upon a piece of wire on the mountain, the couple ended up on the ground.
“He stabbed my leg … (with) a black steak knife,” he told the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Bearley said he tried to flee, but Cassius clung to his shorts.
“He cut me once, then hit him and cut me again,” he said in response to his lawyer Simon Watters.
Bearley said he landed two blows on Cassius’s face and shouted Palmer that he had been stabbed.
“I put my foot on the neck and cheek (Cassius’) … I tried to push against him to let him go to me,” he said.
Bearley said he was several steps from Cassius when he saw Palmer with a shopping tram handle.
“It happened to me and ran to where the boy was and I looked back and I saw him hit him … with a tram pole,” he said.
Bearley said he heard “a little scream” and shouted for Palmer to stop.
He also gave evidence about a conversation with Palmer later at night.
“He simply said he couldn’t trust me to keep his mouth closed and that if he told the police, Aleesha and I would end up in body bags,” Bearley said.
Palmer admitted that he hit Cassius and said that “he reacted on me that they stabbed me,” Bearley said.
The court heard that the couple was known for about six months and Bearley sold cannabis by Palmer.
Bearley also gave evidence about the period prior to the alleged attack against Cassius, and told the jury that Gilmore had received messages on his phone saying “a whole group of people came to cross our house.”
Brearley said the alleged threats occurred one day after the young people broke the windows of their car outside the house that he shared with Gilmore and his family.
When asked about the metal posts that prosecutors allege that Bearley and his coacked brought from the shopping cars found in a alley, Bearley said he was not in the alley, but that he was given a post.
“I ended up rethinking the situation and left it in the entrance path … I thought they were like children … it made no sense to have weapons,” he said.
Bearley told the jury that he, Palmer, Forth and Gilmore went to look for a group of approximately 10 to 20 people who believed they were responsible for threats to Gilmore’s house.
“I just thought we would scare them a little … using words,” he said.
When asked about a CCTV recording of Gilmore’s house, Bearley admitted that he had said: “Someone broke my windows and are about to die.”
“I was accustomed to saying stupid things like that. There was no intention that nothing meant,” he said.
“It is not worth killing someone about a broken window.”
For the support of crisis 24/7 directed by aboriginal people and island of the Strait of Torres, contact 13yarn (13 92 76).
Readers looking for support can contact Lifeline in 13 11 14 or beyond blue in 1300 22 4636.
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