Where’s mummy?
Girl’s plea after mother is killed fighting off teen burglars who were lodging just yards away
THE widower of a British mother stabbed during a break- in revealed how one of their daughters desperately asked ‘where’s mummy?’ hours after she died.
Emma Lovell, 41, and her husband Lee, 43, were both knifed as they fought off intruders at their home in Australia on Boxing Day.
A ‘scuffle’ broke out on the front porch of the property in North Lakes, Queensland, at around 11.30pm as the couple frantically tried to protect their two daughters. Mrs Lovell, originally from Suffolk, sustained wounds to her chest and died at the scene.
It emerged yesterday that four teenage boys were arrested. They were living in a nearby halfway house for youth offenders and had allegedly been causing trouble in the weeks leading up to the tragedy.
Two 17-year-olds have been charged with murder and attempted murder.
They have been remanded in custody until the new year after a hearing at Brisbane’s Children’s Court yesterday.
Officers are still questioning two
‘I thought she would survive’
other boys aged 16 and 17. Officers confirmed yesterday that all four were ‘known to police’.
One of the two teenagers charged with murder was on bail for a break-in and receiving stolen property when the attack occurred.
Yesterday Mr Lovell, who was stabbed in the back and arm but has since been released from hospital, gave an emotional account of the horrifying night as he called for tougher bail laws for violent home invaders.
‘It felt like it was over in 30 seconds but [when the intruders] had run off it really started to set in,’ he told Australian TV programme A Current Affair.
Mr Lovell said he initially thought his wife was going to survive her injuries following the attack.
‘I thought she was because of the work the paramedics were doing at the time,’ he said. ‘I know she didn’t have a pulse, then they said they got her pulse back.’
Paramedics who took Mr Lovell to hospital said his wife would follow – but he recalled his ‘ major shock’ hours later when he found out she did not survive.
He then delivered the heartbreaking news to his daughters after one asked, ‘where’s mummy?’
‘I said, “we need to talk” and we both just broke down,’ Mr Lovell said, fighting back tears.
Paying tribute to her, Mr Lovell told the Mail: ‘Emma was the glue in our family. She was funny, smart, so caring, would do anything for anyone. She died trying to protect me and our family.
‘We’re all devastated by what has happened. I miss her so much.’
The family moved to Australia 11 years ago and Mr Lovell had shared pictures of them enjoying Christmas Day on the beach just hours before the murder.
When discussing the attack, neighbours had said they heard the Lovells’ terrified daughters screaming in the house, with one yelling: ‘Someone help my mum! Help my mum!’ Mr Lovell said: ‘We heard our two dogs barking, Emma checked on our... security app and saw the front door was open.
‘We both rushed out of our bedroom, with Emma behind me, and saw two people in our house.’
In the aftermath of the tragedy, an online petition has been created, calling for the creation of ‘Emma’s Law’.
The proposed law would remove bail as an option for violent intruders who are repeat offenders or use weapons, regardless of their age.
‘I’m happy to back Emma’s Law which is being promoted online,’ Mr Lovell said in a statement. I urge the politicians who can make changes to do so and not just talk about it to gain votes for the next election. You need to act and follow the talking through.’
Just days before Mrs Lovell was killed, one of the teenagers arrested posted footage of himself and others driving allegedly stolen luxury cars. The group recorded themselves speeding at up to 190kph (118mph) before posing in front of an Audi and a Porsche while making gang signs.
One neighbour, named only as Tracey, said different boys and girls would move out of the halfway house every few weeks.
She said her family were not told that the home would be used as a facility for juvenile offenders when it was bought by a charity organisation in May last year.
Since then, they have witnessed police repeatedly storming into the home and heard skirmishes in the street.
She added: ‘We sometimes smell them smoking marijuana and hear them drinking out the back.’
Tracey also said one group of boys banged on her son’s car as he drove towards their home.