Australia - Hannah McGuire, 22 homicide staged as suicide, Ballarat, Apr 2024

[Spectrix]

Ms McGuire was reported missing by her family in April last year and her body found in a vehicle that had been destroyed by fire south-west of Ballarat.

Until yesterday, the matter was subject to a suppression order.

The trial is expected to run for five weeks.

Trial set to start for Ballarat woman's accused murderer

The body of Hannah McGuire, 23, was found last year in a torched car and her ex-partner charged with the killing. He is today expected to plead not guilty before a jury.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Spectrix]

The prosecution and defence gave their opening remarks on day one of the trial over Hannah McGuire's death.

A jury has heard Lachlan Young pleaded not guilty to the murder of his ex-partner, but conceded he was guilty of manslaughter.

The prosecution will argue that Mr Young murdered Ms McGuire at the Sebastopol home they once shared, before putting her body in the footwell of a car, driving her out to a remote location, and setting both on fire.

Trial hears alleged murderer would plead guilty to ex-partner's manslaughter

The defence for the man accused of murdering young Clunes woman Hannah McGuire tells a jury his actions were "foolish" and "shameful" but he did not have murderous intent.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Trooper]

aha.... one of Ballarat's wierdo killers.... Lachlan is a sly one... he tried to convince folks that Hannah had suicided....... He also was a demon for attention... when Ballarat was seething with Detectives, and police and SAS and searchers all looking for Samantha Murphy, Lachlan felt it was good idea to murder his girlfriend and then to call even more attention to himself,.. he set her car alight, in an Australian heat wave, with strict censure on lighting fires, , with fire watchers on every hilltop .. ...no.. Lachlan decided to strike the match...

 

[Spectrix]

I admit that I'm quite puzzled about the manslaughter plea. He admits to driving Hannah's car out there and setting fire to the car with her in the footwell... to "intimidate" her. He claims that he didn't intend for her to die.
My question: Is he claiming that she was conscious at the time? If not, it would be murder. If she was concious she would have exited the vehicle.

He's entitled to a defence, but what is his defence, exactly?

 

[Trooper]

I admit that I'm quite puzzled about the manslaughter plea. He admits to driving Hannah's car out there and setting fire to the car with her in the footwell... to "intimidate" her. He claims that he didn't intend for her to die.
My question: Is he claiming that she was conscious at the time? If not, it would be murder. If she was concious she would have exited the vehicle.

He's entitled to a defence, but what is his defence, exactly?

His defence is a mystery... .. what he did do was immediately after all this firelightin stuff he went back home, ...and sat down and wrote to everyone that Hannah had killed herself... didn't say how he knew this little detail.....oddly, some folks did not buy this yarn and promptly notified the local coppers...

 

[Spectrix]

Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill said Mr Young had earlier told a workmate about his plan to drug Ms McGuire and crash her car.

“The accused told (his workmate) … that he wanted to roofie Hannah, drive her out somewhere, make the vehicle crash, put her behind the wheel of the car while unconscious,” she said.
“(The accused said) he wanted to scare Hannah so she wouldn’t take the house and his things.”

---

Ms Churchill said the breakdown of the couple’s relationship and the impending financial strain, including the loss of their home, acted as a “catalyst” for Mr Young to kill his girlfriend [allegedly at their Ballarat home in the early hours of April 5, 2023].

He then allegedly staged her death to appear like suicide, crashing her Mitsubishi Triton in bushland before torching the vehicle with her body inside.

The jury was told Mr Young used Ms McGuire’s phone to send fake suicide texts to both her mother and himself, including one that read:
“I’m sorry mum, I thought this was the right decision. I tried to go back, but he doesn’t want anything to do with me … I’ve thrown everything away.”

Another text to Mr Young allegedly said: “I’m sorry this all went down this way, goodbye Lach.”

Source: Herald Sun

 

[Spectrix]

I admit that I'm quite puzzled about the manslaughter plea. He admits to driving Hannah's car out there and setting fire to the car with her in the footwell... to "intimidate" her. He claims that he didn't intend for her to die.
My question: Is he claiming that she was conscious at the time? If not, it would be murder. If she was concious she would have exited the vehicle.

He's entitled to a defence, but what is his defence, exactly?

Replying to myself -
Most of the articles on this trial are rather vague, but it appears as if the defence agrees that Hannah died prior to the car journey/fire - (at the Ballarat home) - but claims that the death was an "unplanned and spontaneous event".

The defence does admit that Lachlan later staged the car accident and fire to look like a suicide.

 

[Trooper]

Replying to myself -
Most of the articles on this trial are rather vague, but it appears as if the defence agrees that Hannah died prior to the car journey/fire - (at the Ballarat home) - but claims that the death was an "unplanned and spontaneous event".

The defence does admit that Lachlan later staged the car accident and fire to look like a suicide.

It's a strange defence, considering that there would not be a great many people who would share the joke.... quite the contrary, culturally,, many people have that particular occurrence as a total horror, .to be Burnt in a Bush Fire, along with being Lost in the Bush... it's a shared fear. The notes he wrote , pretending to be Hannah are disturbing , to say the least...

The bottom line seems to be one of financial greed, she wanted out of the relationship ( they had recently bought a house together ) and he saw his vision of himself as Lachlan Esquire dissolving, he could not afford the payments on his own... What she saw in him is one of the enduring mysteries, he has a face upon which no intelligent thought has ever landed.

Besides all that, he was already in the circle of those 'known to the police'.. in his case , known as a persistent thief and liar..... as a novel take on father/son bonding , Lachlan, and his dad went out knicking stuff from their neighbors and fellow citizens.. Apparently they felt their income was not indicative of their perceived status so they took to adding to their overall fiscal renumeration by becoming the scourge and nuisance of the area, finally being caught at it..

At the time of the murder. both he and his father were facing charges... There is no suggestion that Young Snr was involved with Hannah's death. that was all Lachlan's own work. He put a lot of work into planning this hideous murder. and carried thru with it with no hesitation,

It was truly a dreadful crime, and there is no sentence that would do it justice..

 

[drsleuth]

Jury visits house where Hannah McGuire was allegedly murdered

Jurors in the Victorian Supreme Court trial of Lachlan Young, who is accused of murdering Hannah McGuire in April 2024, have visited several locations allegedly linked to her death.

www.abc.net.au

Murder trial jury of Lachlan Young taken to location where Hannah McGuire's body was found​

Jurors in the trial of Lachlan Young, who is accused of murdering his ex-partner Hannnah McGuire, have been taken to the Victorian home where she allegedly died and the location where her body was found.



In court on Thursday, the jury was shown a series of maps, photographs, floor plans and crime scene footage allegedly related to Ms McGuire's death.

Detective Senior Constable James Allen told the court that authorities had been able to track the movements of Ms McGuire, Mr Young, and a second man allegedly involved in the disposal of Ms McGuire's body on the night she died.

A series of time-stamped maps that Senior Constable Allenn said were based on CCTV footage were presented to the court.

 

[drsleuth]

Murder trial jury shown photos of burnt ute where body found

www.9news.com.au

Seventeen shots of the fire-damaged Mitsubishi Triton were tendered in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday as Lachlan Young's murder trial entered its second day.

Detective Senior Constable James Allen told the court McGuire's remains could be seen in some of the photos, laying in the footwell of the blackened vehicle.

Among the other exhibits tendered were a photo of the yellow blowtorch Young used to set fire to the vehicle and a video tour of the Sebastopol property.

He also sent himself messages from McGuire's mobile and transferred thousands of dollars out of her bank account.

 

[drsleuth]

Accused killer ‘formed plan to harm’ McGuire, court told

The man accused of killing Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire allegedly told a workmate he had formed a plan to drug her.

www.theage.com.au

These included allegations that he once called her 129 times in less than 24 hours and sent a series of snapshots venting his frustrations following a break-up more than a year before she died.

The prosecution alleges that on April 4 she went to meet Young at the Ballarat house they previously shared, arriving about 9.47pm in her orange Mitsubishi Triton and parking it at the rear of the house.

Churchill alleged she was killed with “murderous intent” sometime after 1.50am, before Young put her body in the back of her own car and drove to his colleague’s house.

The court heard that on the evening McGuire was killed, Young had contacted his colleague several times.

The jury was told the duo met about 3am after Young honked the horn of the Mitsubishi Triton out the front of his colleague’s house, before allegedly telling the colleague to follow him in another car.

It is then alleged the pair drove into bushland, where the colleague claims he saw Young taking a yellow blowtorch and setting fire to the front of the car.

 

[drsleuth]

 

[drsleuth]

 

[Cedars]

I admit that I'm quite puzzled about the manslaughter plea. He admits to driving Hannah's car out there and setting fire to the car with her in the footwell... to "intimidate" her. He claims that he didn't intend for her to die.
My question: Is he claiming that she was conscious at the time? If not, it would be murder. If she was concious she would have exited the vehicle.

He's entitled to a defence, but what is his defence, exactly?

I don't think he understands even the most basic concepts in morality, much less the technicalities of law. IMO, his lawyer is reaching for the stars, because it's undefendable.

 

[Trooper]

Murder trial jury shown photos of burnt ute where body found

www.9news.com.au

Seventeen shots of the fire-damaged Mitsubishi Triton were tendered in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday as Lachlan Young's murder trial entered its second day.

Detective Senior Constable James Allen told the court McGuire's remains could be seen in some of the photos, laying in the footwell of the blackened vehicle.

Among the other exhibits tendered were a photo of the yellow blowtorch Young used to set fire to the vehicle and a video tour of the Sebastopol property.

He also sent himself messages from McGuire's mobile and transferred thousands of dollars out of her bank account.





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I did not know that he had persuaded someone else to help him .... how he managed that is a whole other degree of crazy..... stealing from her bank account, that fits the pattern , alright... He was inclined to theft as a first resort.... he would have planned to do that along with the killing of her...

How she became to be his fiancee ... god alone knows..... He must have had a job, because they managed to get a deposit and a loan for a mortgage, , she was a kindy teacher, I think , her parents ran and owned the pub in Clunes....It is just so hard to imagine how they became a twosome... beats me!!

 

[Trooper]

I don't think he understands even the most basic concepts in morality, much less the technicalities of law. IMO, his lawyer is reaching for the stars, because it's undefendable.

You would not want to be his Barrister... what a burden... He probably will not take the stand in his own defence, his barrister would be dead against it for sure, but you just never know, sometimes the real crazy takes over and up they get, full of their ridiculous story, firmly believing they can pull it off, ... it's astonishing how many klllers just will not take advice and sit this one out....

 

[Deleted member 367982]

Looks like he's entitled to have his day in court and then he could be entitled to spend 25 years in prison thinking about it if he's found guilty of murder IMO

 

[Rocket333]

The DV journey here follows a familiar and escalating pattern marked by intervention orders, emotional abuse, coercive control and fatal violence.

The defence is asking the jury to separate the killing from the cover-up and see it as a tragic, impulsive act, but with the weight of evidence, the alleged planning, the manipulation afterward, and the history of control, it’s just too steep a hill and too hard a sell.

I hope he takes the stand. He’ll be thinking
that he can explain it all and win the jury over but he’ll soon find out that he’s just a well cooked goose waiting for sentencing.

 

[drsleuth]

Car burned for six hours before Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire’s remains found

Smouldering tree logs had been pushed up against the door of a burnt-out car where the body of Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire was found, a court has heard.

www.theage.com.au

Car burned for six hours before Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire’s remains found​

A smouldering tree log had been pushed up against the door of a burnt-out car where the body of Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire was found, a court has heard.

The car had been burning for six hours before it was discovered.

County Fire Association volunteer Alwyn Parker told the hearing he did not realise at first there was a body inside the scorched remains of the Mitsubishi Triton ute when he arrived at the scene of a blaze in dense bushland in Scarsdale

Parker said he and others at the scene observed two large tree logs which were still alight with hot embers, and appeared to have been placed either side of the passenger and driver side doors.

The court heard on Wednesday a man walking his dog on the morning of April 5 found the car and called triple zero.

Noonan told the court it appeared that McGuire had been lying on her left side, facing the rear of the car.

 

[drsleuth]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/volunteer-firefighters-suspicious-discovery-at-hannah-mcguires-burntout-car/news-story/14d797f9f295f15c38b6e23a2c0fd225?amp

Volunteer firefighter’s ‘suspicious’ discovery at Hannah McGuire’s burnt-out car​

An experienced volunteer firefighter has told a jury it was “very suspicious” to find Hannah McGuire’s torched vehicle wedged between two logs in remote bushland near Ballarat.