Tom, 27, and father-of-three Corey Christensen died after being stabbed by 19-year-old Dean Webber at a house in Alva Beach near Townsville in the early hours of October 1.

No charges have been laid, and since that night, Tom’s grieving family has been tormented by what they believe are misinformation and rumours in the media. His mother, Heather Davy, said they would release a statement about their understanding of the night of Tom’s death “in time”. For now, they just wanted the world to know what a beautiful, loving, and larger-than-life man Tom was.

“He really was an amazing, loving brother, uncle, and son,” she said.

He had the “biggest, bluest” eyes, and he could lift the mood of a room whenever he walked in.

Tom was kind, caring, charismatic and fun. He would greet everyone in the room – typically with a bear hug. He would scoop up his adoring nieces and zoom them into the air, chanting their names over and over.

“He made everyone happy. Everyone liked to be near him,” Mrs Davy said.

Tom’s second home was on the water.  He grew up exploring every corner of Port Stephens – first in his tinny, and later, bigger boats – many of which he had built or re-conditioned himself.

“He was a real master fisherman, and he loved sharing that with people,” Tom’s brother, Josh Davy, said.

“I never used to fish much, or spearfish, but I started just to spend more time with him. To hang out.”

When Mrs Davy was unable to stomach much food while battling cancer, Tom would ask her what kind of fish she would like for dinner, and go out and catch it for her.

“I don’t know if he caught 20 others or what, but he would always bring back whatever I asked for. It was very special,” Mrs Davy said.

“He liked sharing what he caught. He’d sometimes take some fish down to the lady at the bakery who made his coffee of a morning, too.”

Tom was good with his hands. He preferred to build things rather than buy them.

He did an apprenticeship as an aircraft structures engineer with Jetstar, and was based at Williamtown for some time. By 23, he had bought his first house in Waratah, which he shared with little sister, Katie Davy.

“He always looked out for me. He always had my back,” she said. “He was always the first to reach out and apologise if we had an argument over something silly.”

Tom would have turned 28 next month. Just 10 weeks before his death, Tom had packed up his Troopcarrier and boat to slowly make his way north to Cairns to begin the next chapter of his life.

His area of aviation was a small industry, and his good reputation meant he had plenty of work opportunities as a contractor. He liked the idea of living closer to the Great Barrier Reef – a fisherman’s paradise. And he had just begun a new relationship with Candice Locke.

“He had just organised a house so that he could take his dog, Mia, up with him,” Mrs Davy said.

Tom had booked a flight home on Tuesday, October 2, to see his family, and pick up Mia. But he died on the Monday. Tom’s father – Neil Thomas Davy – was at work when police arrived to tell him the news. “I was completely devastated,” he said.

He called Katie, to tell her to come home. “It’s critical.”

“I thought it was mum,” Katie said. “When I got home, I ran through the gate, and said, ‘Where is she?’ Dad stopped me and said, ‘It’s not mum’. There were so many people here … I just thought, ‘No. Not my Tom. They have made a mistake’.”

Josh had called Tom that morning, after he had finished a shift at work.

“He didn’t pick up. I just assumed he was out on the reef fishing,” he said.

“We will never get over this. He was a 27-year-old man, in the prime of his life, with everything lined up ahead of him. And he was such a beautiful human. You just can’t imagine a world without him in it.”

More than 500 people attended his funeral at the family’s Tea Gardens home, where his friends from the local fire brigade – of which Tom had been a member – formed a guard of honour.

Katie said the family was lucky in the respect that “nothing was left unsaid”.

“He knew how much we loved him, and we knew how much he loved us,” she said. “We always told each other we loved each other.”

Mrs Davy could still not believe that Tom was gone.  Family was everything.

“I feel like we were whole, and now, we are broken,” she said.

According to Queensland police, on the night the men died, Ms Locke had sought help at the house where Webber was alone after she fell from a quad bike. The family said Tom was in a new relationship with Ms Locke, who had arrived at the house, just after midnight, the night he died. They said he had been at a community get-together earlier that evening to watch the NRL grand final, which had also been attended by grandparents and children.

“We have been told by police that only Tom and Corey went into the house, and that they were unarmed,” Katie said. “We know Tom, and we know his one and only purpose would have been to help his injured new girlfriend.”

Webber, who police say did not know the men or Ms Locke, was questioned about the stabbing, but released without charge. The family disputes much of the information that has been published about the night of Tom’s death. But they have been hesitant to speak publicly for fear of jeopardising any case that might arise from the investigation.

“We have struggled with what has been in the media,” Josh said. “It has been garbage. There have been so many different stories, and no facts. But we have been quiet because we thought it might hurt the case.”

“Only three people really know what went down that night, and two of them are dead,” Katie added. “It’s that simple.”

“We are hoping it goes to an inquest,” Mrs Davy said.

“No words can describe how much we will miss Tom. It is so heartbreaking to know how he has died. It just seems so senseless. It didn’t need to happen. There are so many other scenarios that could have happened that night.”

“There will be a time, in the future, when we will say everything,” Mr Davy, said. “Right now, we can’t. He’ll be on our mind every day for the rest of our lives.

“He was truly a wonderful person.”