Who is Torin O’Brien: Man behind Rockhampton crime rally

Torin O’Brien is building an army of Camry-driving mums and dads, as the accidental leader of a controversial rally declares he’s not backing down on his fight against crime.

He is the man who made international headlines when he led a group of 100-150 angry locals to the homes of alleged teen criminals to protest their crimes, prompting a mass police response and catching the attention of the highest ranking officer in the state, but Torin O’Brien is unapologetic.

The “accidental” figurehead of a movement to reclaim Rockhampton’s streets is building an army - who he says are not thugs, but everyday people, Camry-driving mums and dads scared for the safety of their children and residents fed up with living in fear in their own homes.

At his Rockhampton CBD gym Snake Pit, once the scene of a nightclub bombing, the imposing muay thai fighter and former One Nation candidate insists he’s no extremist, racist thug.

Instead, Torin says lessons learned from his tough upbringing, his father’s murder, intervention work with off-the-rails kids and frustration at underwhelming action from who he sees as gutless politicians and powerless police, fuel his desire to take a stand.

Two people have been charged with trespass over Sunday’s events and more charges could be pending for others involved as leading police figures plead with the public to take a deep breath and remain calm.

Police guarding a home in Norman Gardens during an anti-crime rally.

It was waking up to a string of missed calls from his elderly Nanna in the early hours of Sunday that sparked a fury in Torin.

“Crime has always been bad here and I have been well aware of the statistics, but what has happened for the first time is the crime wave has affected me personally,” he said.

“My younger sister and her newborn visiting my Nanna, have woken up with three of these scumbags in her bedroom at 1am. I learned that my sister had woken up and one of them was looking over her as she was sleeping with her baby and she puts her baby down and chases them out, she gets to the door and there are two more.

“I’m not a person to be f--ked with. If you go into my family’s home, I’m coming to get you.”

The group also gathered at an address in Berserker.

Torin said initially he intended to “seek and destroy” on his own, but an “explosion” of people, many of them victims of crime, followed.

More than 12,000 people joined Torin’s Rocky thieves meet and greet Facebook group - which has since been shut down by Facebook along with his personal profile for breaching community standards.

“They all felt the same ... so basically I’m the prick that cracked the shits enough to motivate everyone else,” he said.

“They feel scared and a lot of the anger is coming from fear.

“I never intended at any point to be, but the police are calling me the ‘leader’ of the group. Now I have got, almost the responsibility by default, to manage this because there is potential for a great opportunity to actually make some change, or there is potential for it to go bad too.”

Chance to join forces with police

Queensland’s top police brass have called on Torin and community members to stand down, with Commissioner Katarina Carroll warning vigilantism would lead to someone’s death.

She pleaded with communities to not spread details online and instead “please come to us”.

“We’re seeing vigilantes taking action against the wrong people,” she said.

“This is what we do – talk to us about this.

“It’s incredibly important that you do because we’ve seen a lot of stuff on social media and a lot of people just putting information out there that … is not correct and it’s extraordinarily dangerous.”

Torin countered it was an opportunity for collaboration.

On Wednesday night, he led a 20-car-strong road patrol convoy, tailed by concerned police, through Rockhampton streets.

He said it was not to wield pitchforks and bang down doors, but to make their presence known to criminals and their victims.

“Road patrols, no getting out of cars, no knocking on doors... And they are not hotted-up V8 cars, they are bloody Camrys and Captivas with kids’ seats, they are everyday people,” Torin said.

He intended to present the patrol’s outcome to police leaders, Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke and justice officials at a meeting next week, along with a proposal for a Neighbourhood Watch model where police team with residents to patrol problem areas - however it is understood Mr O’Rourke has pulled out of that meeting.

Torin did, however, meet with Rockhampton police leaders on Thursday morning.

Capricorn Crime Group Detective Inspector Luke Peachey said they had a “really good conversation”.

“I think a lot of things came out of that,” Insp Peachey said.

“He gets our point of view, I get his point of view.

“He was in agreeance with me that some of the behaviour went above what he expected on the weekend.”

Insp Peachey said police were firm in their stance of not condoning vigilante behaviour.

“We were very aware, like most people we were following with a keen eye,” Insp Peachey said of the Gracemere road patrol.

“What we all have to remember is we just have to take a deep breath and remain calm. The community is bubbling at the moment.”

Torin O'Brien speaking with Rockhampton police during the community rally.

Torin believes his Neighbourhood Watch proposal would go a long way to breaking down barriers between officers and regular citizens.

“There are some horrible, horrible things that have happened to people and they have been completely neglected in the moment and afterwards by the police... I like our police, I think Australia has the best police in the world and it’s not them letting them (offenders) out, but after hearing some stories on Sunday, I understand,” Torin said.

“This one particular coal miner, his wife and kid were at home alone, people had broken in and run out, the wife calls police and they didn’t show up for an hour.

“But what happens when some pissed off victims go to a few houses where they all stay? Twenty cops in five minutes. That’s why people are angry.

“The police are saying ‘now you are wasting our resources’, but where were the resources when we were being robbed?

“We have to bridge that gap between the people and the cops - because we are actually the same people.”

‘Rough childhood’ mantra needs to stop

In the aftermath of Sunday’s rally, Torin claims family and friends of alleged offenders sent messages defending them and providing excuses for their behaviour be it age, background or upbringing.

But Torin believes he is living proof the decisions you make in life can outweigh your circumstances, having spent his early years living in Taupo, New Zealand with his mother and sister before living with his Dad in a seedy part of Melbourne.

He has also lived through tragedy in more recent years, with the murder of his father Shane O’Brien in Yeppoon in February 2019.

The man charged, Lyorde Francis Painter, was deemed unfit to stand trial by Queensland’s Mental Health Court in 2021. 

Torin O'Brien at his gym.

“I left NZ when I was about 13 and I moved to Melbourne and that’s where I first lived with my father who was a good man, but a wild, wild man,” he said.

“My life then for the next couple of years... was like the show Shameless. That was essentially my life in Melbourne with Dad distracting the workers at Bi-Lo while I ran out with a trolley full of food. All sorts of drugs and bullsh-- and also generally being the victims of crime.

“There was poverty and there were days without food. All this stuff about ‘I’ve had a rough childhood’ is utter crap. The moment I wanted to do something better, I just did it.

“People use excuses of ‘oh I come from a rough family’ and one of the biggest ones I have seen here is ‘oh one of the houses you went to only had teenage criminals, why don’t you go after the adult criminals?’

“Stop using that as an excuse. A 13-year-old allegedly killed three people the other day - do we not worry about that because ‘kids will be kids’ or ‘boys will be boys’?

Torin categorically denies allegations his actions are racially motivated.

“See these flags behind me? They are not for decoration,” he says, pointing to an array of national flags hanging from the ceiling.

“These flags belong to the different members in my gym that I spend my life with. Some of our very best long term members and families - Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal, Lebanese, Brazilian, Tongan... this is my life.

“All the people claiming this is a racist thing, I put it to them that they are making people racist by making that accusation.

“We are just humans, we all know right and wrong.

“Your skin colour has no relevance, your character is all that matters. When it comes to crime - are you a criminal or not?”

His comments come ahead of a peaceful meeting of Indigenous Elders and community members in Rockhampton on Friday organised by Rock Naidoc to address youth crime, “vigilante” groups and children’s safety - an event he hopes will be positive and friendly.

Indigenous leaders have told this publication they agree that crime is an issue but innocent, law-abiding members of their community, particularly children, are fearful of being targeted in the frenzy of anger stirred up by Sunday’s rally and its aftermath.

Torin O'Brien has denied his actions are racially motivated.

Torin is also candid about his past and beliefs amid accusations on social media and in some media that he was once the president of an anti-Muslim group.

Its Facebook page, viewed by this publication, has not posted regularly since 2018, but espouses anti-Islamic views.

The group, which had chapters across the country, had its incorporated status cancelled by the Office of Fair Trading for “carrying on an operation which is beyond the scope of the objects of the incorporated association” because it reportedly posed as a an advocacy group for domestic violence victims when it was first registered in 2014.

“The group was called Patriots Defence League and the prime target was a group called Hizb ut-Tahrir,” Torin said.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir at the time, I don’t know about right now, were outlawed in many developed companies - America and England being a couple of them. Their main stance was that they were not just Muslims, it was a hard Shariah Law, female genital mutilation, child marriage and at the time that was going on, NSW police said they’d had 300 cases that year.

“Our main objective was petitions to have that group outlawed in Australia.”

Hizb ut-Tahrir, meaning ‘Party of Liberation’ is banned or not tolerated in Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Central Asia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

“The only other thing we did was raise money, thousands of dollars, for wounded soldiers. We all came together in Brisbane with an organisation called Mates4Mates and we carried bricks with fallen soldiers’ names engraved on them 100km on foot and at the end of that 100km they take the bricks and build a war memorial, and the money they raise from it goes to wounded soldiers.

“Apparently, that makes me a neo-nazi white supremacist. Anyone that thinks female genital mutilation and child marriage is okay can just f--k right off. If you want to call me racist or a white supremacist for that, I don’t care.”