Murder accused to be retried over brutal slaying of ex-boss

A man sentenced to life in prison over the alleged brutal slaying of his former boss will have a jury decide his fate when the case is retried next year.

Kyle Robert Thompson, 32, was found guilty in 2018 of murdering David Knyvett, 59.

Knyvett died allegedly bound by duct tape on the bathroom floor of his Belgian Gardens home after inhaling his own blood when he was beaten multiple times with an empty whiskey bottle on November 15, 2015.

Last year, the Queensland Court of Appeal overturned Thompson's sentence and quashed his conviction after three members of the bench found the trial judge had misdirected the jury, resulting in a "substantial miscarriage of justice".

Defence lawyer Phil Rennick appeared in the Townsville Supreme Court on behalf of Thompson yesterday where the matter was set down for retrial in April 2021.

When the matter returned to court, Mr Rennick said his client would be arraigned on a charge of manslaughter.

"It will only come down to the very narrow issue of if our client has a diminished responsibility to the point where the jury agrees it is manslaughter and not murder," he said.

Originally published as Murder accused to be retried over brutal slaying of ex-boss