Lyorde Francis Painter has murder charge dismissed over death of Yeppoon man Shane O’Brien

Rockhampton identity and political hopeful Torin O’Brien recounts the day police knocked on his door to give him the devastating news his Dad had been found dead in his Yeppoon home. More than two years on, his family still doesn’t know what really happened to their loved one.

When Muay Thai competitor Torin O’Brien noticed missed calls from police on his phone, he thought his father, who had post traumatic stress disorder, had been arrested.

It was only when police knocked on the door of his Sunshine Coast motel room on February 23, 2019, hours before he was due to compete in a fight, that the real reason behind the missed calls was revealed.

The police were there to tell Torin that his father, Shane O’Brien, 57, had been found dead at his Todd Avenue, Yeppoon, rental property.

Shane had sustained severe head injuries.

His housemate, Lyorde Francis Painter, was charged with his murder.

He was last month found to be of unsound mind by the Queensland Mental Health Court – meaning he is unfit to stand trial.

Tragically, more than two years on, Torin and his family still don’t know what happened on the day of Shane’s death, and they likely never will.

Mr Painter was placed on a 10-year forensic order and the murder charge was dismissed in Rockhampton Magistrates Court.

Evidence of Mr Painter’s battles with mental health was discovered when Torin attended his father’s rental property and uncovered many empty blister packets of different types of antipsychotic medications.

Torin, who ran as the One Nation candidate for Rockhampton in the 2020 Queensland Election, said his father had known Mr Painter for years and they had been housemates of sorts for about five years after Mr Painter house-sat Shane’s Rockhampton home while he lived in Brisbane.

He said Mr Painter remained in the house when his father relocated back to Central Queensland and the pair ended up renting in Yeppoon.

On the day Torin’s father died, he was meant to be on a fishing trawler, headed to the southeast corner of Queensland to work and watch, for the first time, Torin compete in a Muay Thai competition.

Torin’s wife, Amy, was scheduled to fight for the first time ever that night.

Shane O'Brien.

Despite receiving the devastating news, Torin opted to fight on - making the decision based on what he thought his father would have wanted him to do.

“He was a hard arse,” Torin said.

“He would have wanted me to continue.”

Amy ended up having her contact lenses punched out of her eyes early into her fight, so Torin coached her through fighting blind.

Torin suffered a broken arm and ribs 20 seconds into his fight and the pair ended up at the hospital.

“It was a bad day,” he said.

They drove back to Rockhampton the next day.

Torin said when he got home, the police contacted him.

“The police called me and told me it was in my best interest to get my Dad’s things,” he said.

Torin said when he got to the Todd Avenue property, with one arm in plaster, things were missing and the scene was confronting.

“All of the medical equipment and blood everywhere,” he said.

“All of the … you know … everything they had tried to do … so it was pretty s--- to have to step over all of that.

“I wasn’t aware everything was still at his place.

“I’d never walked into something like that before.”

He said he was never told anything much about what happened to his father, just that he had died and had severe head injuries.

Shane O'Brien while working as a security guard.

Torin said he managed to track down where his father’s missing belongings had ended up, contacted the people who had them and “politely asked them” to put his father’s belongings in the back of his car.

He said he was then advised he had to arrange a forensic clean of the rental property, which cost $3500, on top of organising his father’s funeral and tying up all other business.

Torin said he was helped by a government organisation called Victim Assist Queensland, which reimbursed him of the costs associated with anything linked to the crime, such as the forensic clean and the funeral.

He said that organisation was great and also offered to pay for his family members to undergo counselling if they wanted.

Torin said his grandmother, Shane’s mother, former Rockhampton Regional Council councillor Sandra O’Brien, had only recently felt ready to talk about what happened.

He said she struggled as Shane was the second child she had lost in her life as she had also lost a daughter when the girl was a child.