A man on trial for murder, who claims his co-accused was responsible for the death of Indigenous youth Cassius Turvey, faced scrutiny over the discrepancies in his defense during testimony at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Jack Brearley, 24, claimed that prosecutor’s allegations against him were false, and he did not hit the 15-year-old Turvey with a metal pole in Perth’s eastern suburbs on October 13, 2022. Brearley asserted that Brodie Palmer, his co-accused, committed the blows resulting in Turvey’s death in the hospital 10 days after the event.
On cross-examination by Palmer’s lawyer, Christian Porter, Brearley acknowledged multiple inconsistencies in his defense, which became a point of contention. Among these was Brearley’s claim of a physical scuffle with one person, Turvey. However, his previous statements to the police contradicted this account as he had described a “big Kiwi fella” with a blond haircut, wearing a grey shirt, and wielding a knife, rather than the teen wearing a green shirt.
Brearley also admitted that his account of only punching Turvey twice in the head, causing a cut to the teenager’s eyebrow, was not corroborated by medical witnesses involved in Turvey’s treatment. Moreover, Brearley’s descriptions of the incident’s location near a creek were disputed. Porter contended that the “sheer weight of eyewitness evidence” supported the account that Brearley inflicted the fatal injuries with a pole.
Brearley responded to these challenges by standing by his version of events, rejecting Porter’s assertion that he was lying. In addition to Brearley, his girlfriend Aleesha Gilmore, 23, and a coworker Mitchell Forth, 26, are also on trial, accused of murdering Turvey. Prosecutors say that Brearley intentionally struck Turvey with a metal pole during a pursuit, intending to harm teenagers for allegedly damaging his car windows. The co-accused are said to have been aware and supportive of Brearley’s intentions.
The case is ongoing.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/04/man-accused-of-cassius-turvey-is-lying-through-his-teeth-court-told
