Raywood crash: ‘Gentle giant’ Shane Fitzpatrick killed in Raywood rollover
A young Bendigo tradie has been remembered as a “grouse bloke” with a cheeky personality and love for utes after he was killed in a rollover north of Bendigo.
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A “gentle giant” who loved utes, long mullets and Victoria Bitters is being mourned by a Central Victorian community after the 20-year-old was killed in a rollover north of Bendigo.
Shane Fitzpatrick died after he lost control of his ute going round a bend along Sandhurst St on Saturday causing the ute to roll and hit a tree.
Despite paramedics trying to revive him he died at the scene. His male passenger was left with minor injures.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s roommate Karl Browne said it was surreal to see his mate’s prized yellow ute destroyed.
He said it was covered in cheeky “mad stickers” that showed so much of Mr Fitzpatrick’s big personality.
“He did not give a sh*t about what anyone else thought of him,” Mr Browne said.
“He’s a big man with a mullet and a big mad yellow ute.
“He was him and that was that.
“And that was what’s loveable about him.
“To see it (the ute) in that shape – that was hard to see.”
Mr Browne said the Bendigo man made him feel at home when he and fellow Irish worker Declan Griffin, 27, moved into his Benalla home, in north eastern Victoria.
Mr Browne said the trio forged a friendship over beers, good conversation and a laugh.
“It was two different cultures coming together and loving it,” he said.
“He enjoyed a few drinks, a good time and a party.
“Shane was a lad’s lad.
“He was never hurtful or harmful.
“He was a bit of a messer … and a gentle giant.
“He would do anything for you.”
Mr Browne said he was introduced to Mr Fitzpatrick’s signature drink, Victoria Bitters – which the 20-year-old concreter adored so much he owned a bottle of the beer’s signature cologne.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s loved ones say the silence left after his death had been defeaning.
They won’t hear his voice at parties, his jokes between friends or notifications from his Snapchat.
Online tributes for the ”big boy” and “grouse bloke” have poured in since his death.
“(I’m) still waiting for you to walk through the front door and grab a beer out of the fridge and tell me some wild story about something crazy you’ve done with the day,” Kaelan Parker wrote on Facebook.
“You weren’t only one of my best mates but you were a brother to me, someone I thought would be around until we were old boys.
“There will never be another like you mate, you were one of a kind, such a young head with so much old knowledge.
“As long as I’m breathing you won’t be forgotten mate.”
“The world is a cruel place, and it has taken you away, far to young … Hope the cans are cold at least,” Gnaden Kelly wrote on Facebook.
His friends have designed a custom stubby holder in his honour so Shane, their best mate, won’t ever be missing from their parties.
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