Cassius Turvey murder trial: Teen’s DNA found in stain on shorts of accused killer Jack Brearley, court told

Cassius Turvey’s DNA was found in blood stains on the shorts of one of his accused killers, a court has been told. The piece of clothing was one of many items seized by police as part of its investigation into the murder of the 15-year-old who died from bleeding on the brain 10 days after he was hit across the head with a metal pole on October 13, 2022. WA’s Supreme Court was told the shorts were seized from Jack Brearley on suspicion he caused the Indigenous teenager grievous bodily harm during the early hours of October 14, 2022 – just hours after the attack. Mr Brearley, his ex-girlfriend Aleesha Gilmore, Brodie Palmer and Mitchell Forth have been on trial for seven weeks accused of killing the teenager. Cassius was allegedly attacked in bushland in Middle Swan by strangers who had accused him and his friends of smashing car windows. The teen had been at an oval with more than a dozen other teens to watch a fight that had been organised on social media between Ms Gilmore’s younger brother, Cody, and other youths. The night before, Mr Brearley’s car windows had been smashed in retaliation for an alleged attack on another teen four days earlier that Mr Forth, Mr Brearley, Ms Gilmore and another man, Ethan MacKenzie, are also on trial for. Prosecutors say the four accused murderers had gone out searching for those responsible as well as those Ms Gilmore believed had threatened her brother and her home. Mr Brearley was the first of the four to be arrested in connection with the attack, with the court told police seized the clothing he wore that day. Pathwest scientist Samuel Cornwell testified 11 stains had been found on Mr Brearley’s shorts and two of those, on the back of the clothing item, contained the DNA of Cassius Turvey. The first stain, he said, featured a mixed DNA profile from two people – Cassius and Mr Brearley. He said the major contributor of that stain (97 percent) was Cassius, explaining that the profile was 100 billion times more likely to be him. The remaining 3 per cent, he said, was 2.3 billion times more likely to be Mr Brearley. He said Mr Palmer’s DNA was excluded from the test and the profile was unlikely to be Mr Forth. With the second stain, Mr Cornwell said it contained a mixed profile belonging to four people, with Cassius 100 billion times more likely to be the major contributor at 44 per cent. He said the second largest amount was Mr Brearley, explaining that he was 19 billion times more likely to be the contributor. He said the other accused were more likely not to be contributors to that profile. Under cross examination by Mr Brearley’s defence lawyer Simon Watters, Mr Cornwell agreed that someone could transfer their DNA onto someone’s shorts by grabbing them. The jury was previously shown footage of a recorded police interview in which Mr Brearley admitted punching Cassius in the head while holding his head down with his foot, claiming he was retaliating after the teen slashed his leg with a knife. Mr Cornwell also testified that Cassius’ DNA was not found on Mr Brearley’s t-shirt or on a hoodie that Mr Palmer had been wearing. The trial continues.