Nurse killed by boyfriend after years of domestic violence

A woman killed in her Gardenvale flat just weeks after undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumour was subjected to years of domestic violence at the hands of her partner, who has now pleaded guilty to her murder.

Caitlin O'Brien was found dead in her Gardenvale home. Picture: Facebook

A nurse killed by her boyfriend in their home just weeks after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour on her brain was the victim of years of domestic violence.

The Herald Sun can reveal Caitlin O’Brien was forced to flee her then Chelsea home and run to a police station after Shea Dylan Sturt attacked her in 2010.

She had also reported to her doctor on multiple occasions the physical and sexual abuse she faced in the two years before she was killed.

The shocking details can be aired as Sturt, 32, today faced Melbourne Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to murdering Ms O’Brien in their Gardenvale unit in June last year.

The court heard there had been a history of family violence between the couple, who had been in a relationship for more than 10 years after meeting as teenagers in TAFE.

A police summary released by the court reveals he stabbed Ms O’Brien, 31, to the chest with a pair of scissors before pushing her onto the bed and suffocating her by holding a pillow over her face for two minutes.

Concerned she wasn’t dead, Sturt then wrapped a pair of track pants around her neck tightly.

He then fled, later approaching police at Flinders Street train station, telling them to arrest him as “I just killed my girlfriend”.

Sturt’s violence towards Ms O’Brien first came to the attention of police in 2008.

In March 2010, Ms O’Brien ran into Chelsea police station after again being the victim of assault at his hands in her nearby home.

He was charged with assault and in September 2011 at the Frankston Magistrates Court, he was placed on an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour.

Ms O’Brien had visited her local GP clinic 33 times in the two years to her death, with doctors’ notes revealing she disclosed mental health concerns and physical and sexual abuse by her boyfriend.

“Has been in a DV (domestic violence) relationship – fiance’ was arrested – has history of psychosis,” one doctor’s notes from March 14, 2017 read.

On November 8, 2017, another doctor noted: “Broken up with partner – has become abusive about it and says she has been sexually abused a lot of time, victim of domestic violence.”

A doctor’s notes on her visit on October 22, 2018 said Sturt had “attacked Caitlin saying he needs to kill her first before himself”.

On June 25 last year, Ms O’Brien was at home recovering from her May 14 brain surgery when she was killed in the Kooyong Rd unit she shared with Sturt.

She had become increasingly concerned about his mental health, and two days earlier, messaged her mother to get police to attend the house as he was having a psychotic episode.

He was taken to The Alfred hospital for mental assessment, only to be released later that night.

On his release, he messaged Ms O’Brien stating he was “fine” and “I would never hurt you”.

“I hope so. I get scared,” she replied.

When he asked “Of what?, she said: “You murdering me.”

The night before her murder she messaged a friend to ask if she could stay with him.

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“I’m so scared. I just want to run away,” Ms O’Brien said.

“Shea’s out of his mind. Having delusions he is Jesus. I’m just scared to be around him. He’s not making sense at all. He forced me to eat an apple today so I could be like Adam and Eve and be enlightened.”

Sturt posted a series of bizarre posts on his Facebook page on the day he killed Ms O’Brien, including “You made me kill ‘the devil’ because you saw her in yourself” and “Sacrifice is beautiful but only ever for the right reasons”.

In another post, he simply wrote “I forgive you”.

Sturt will face the Supreme Court for a directions hearing on March 16.