A woman accused of murdering an Indigenous teen sent messages inquiring about the welfare of another boy allegedly beaten up by two of her co-accused, a court has been told.
Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, died in hospital 10 days after prosecutors say he was chased, knocked to the ground and “deliberately struck to the head with a metal pole” in Perth’s eastern suburbs on 13 October 2022.
Aleesha Louise Gilmore, 23, her boyfriend Jack Steven James Brearley, 23, and his friends Brodie Lee Palmer, 29 and Mitchell Colin Forth, 26, are on trial in the West Australian supreme court for Cassius’s murder, and have denied murdering him.
Prosecutors say that in the days before Cassius was fatally injured, Brearley, Forth and another man, Ethan Robert MacKenzie, 20, allegedly attacked another 15-year-old boy.
The teen’s sister, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court her brother came home on 9 October with “a puncture wound about the size of a 10-cent coin … just below his rib”.
“His ribs were so swollen it looked like someone had shoved a softball under his skin,” she told the court on Tuesday.
“I disinfected the wound and put a bandage on it … he was [clenching] … in pain.”
The court has previously been told MacKenzie, who is also on trial but not for the murder charge, stabbed the boy with a knife.
He has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully detaining and assaulting the boy, who is also a protected witness.
His alleged victim’s sister also told the jury about a series of Facebook messages Gilmore sent her concerning her brother.
“I just want to make sure he is OK,” one said.
“Have you talked to him, is he OK?” another said.
The witness said Gilmore also sent a photo of her with the boy and promised to buy him a new iPhone.
Gilmore also allegedly said the boy had been given a Nintendo Switch video game console and she had dropped him off at his father’s home.
The next day she messaged again.
“Hey girl it’s Aleesha, I just wanted to check up on [the boy’s name] and check if he alright,” she wrote.
The boy’s older sister replied: “Hey … at the doctor and just seeing if he needs glue or stitches.”
The boy who was allegedly stabbed told the jury on Monday that Brearley had punched him in the face, he was stabbed and he fell to the ground where he was “stomped on”.
The boy said Gilmore was waiting in a nearby car and said “What are you doing to this poor kid” when she saw him.
The teen alleged he was “forced” into the back of a car where he sat on Gilmore’s knee, and some of the occupants recognised him.
The boy alleged he was then driven to Gilmore’s house, where he was told to take a shower, which he did, before being given a Band-Aid and disinfectant for his wound, fresh clothes, shoes and the Nintendo device “because they felt bad”.
Prosecutors allege Brearley struck Cassius in the head two times with a metal pole while “hunting for kids” because somebody had smashed his car windows.
They allege Forth, Palmer and Gilmore helped him and knew his intent before the incident.
The trial continues.
