Hobart Mercure Hotel murderer a free man again after killing Canberra woman

A Hobart man who murdered a Canberra public servant in a Bathurst Street hotel has been released from Risdon Prison on parole.

Murder victim, Canberra public servant Kamehn Schrader.

A Hobart man who murdered a Canberra public servant in a Bathurst Street hotel has been released from Risdon Prison on parole.

It’s the latest in a series of parole attempts for Keith Jamie Lynch-Whitton, who murdered Kamehn Schrader, 41, after a night out in Hobart during September 2006.

Then 28, Lynch-Whitton killed Ms Schrader by placing his arm around her neck in a headlock and squeezing until she lost consciousness and died.

At the time of his sentencing, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard the pair had engaged in consensual sex at what was then the Mercure Hotel, with Lynch-Whitton becoming “enraged” after Ms Schrader made a derogatory comment about his sexual performance.

However, a number of Ms Schrader’s friends have since come forward to say she was a high-profile lesbian and that there was no way she would have invited a man to her hotel room for sex.

They expressed concern the prosecution had accepted the word of a confessed killer and sullied her name – with Ms Schrader no longer alive “to give her version”.

The killer, a West Moonah father of two, handed himself in at the Hobart police station after realising Ms Schrader was dead.

He was jailed for 18 years, with a non-parole period of 10 years.

In its newly-published decision, the Parole Board of Tasmania said Lynch-Whitton was first released on parole in 2016, but brought back to jail after “several episodes in the community”.

He was released again in 2017, but brought back to jail for a short period in 2020.

In June 2021, Lynch-Whitton was arrested on a Parole Board warrant.

The board noted he also “absconded” in March last year and was arrested again in May last year, with his parole subsequently revoked.

When he came before the board again last month, it was noted there were “many positives” of Lynch-Whitton’s time in custody, including that he’d worked in several “trusted positions of employment” and had competed various programs, training and therapy.

The board also said there was a recent incident in prison that “suggested a level of violence”.

It also noted Lynch-Whitton hoped to return to school and study engineering and environmental science, and to focus on his relationship with his children.

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