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

[Trooper]

From this report from the ABC ( see above) the trial stopped before Mr Young presented any witnesses of his own... His pal, or former pal Ben O'Keefe was a witness for the prosecution ( and it probably was that or be charged with murder himself, he being Lachlans helper, for the munificent sum of 45 bucks. ) and that the only witnesses were for the Prosecution.

That the trial stopped before , if there were any, witnesses attesting to Lachlan's good character were presented to the jury ... ,perhaps none could be rustled up. Perhaps none volunteered.. Perhaps at this point , Young had nothing to combat the evidence given by the Prosecution witnesses..

( It is a remarkable salutation to the Victorian DPP to have this happen, its rare and it does underline the incredible integrity of the Dept, to bring a case to court of such lay down misere that the defence folds before it brings up their first witness )


(Absolute certainty
The phrase "lay down misére" refers to a situation that is an absolute certainty or a "dead cert." It originates from the card game 500, where a player bids to lose every trick, placing their cards face-up on the table, indicating their confidence in the outcome. This term is commonly used in Australian and New Zealand slang to express a high level of certainty about an event occurring. )

 

[Deleted member 367982]

From this report from the ABC ( see above) the trial stopped before Mr Young presented any witnesses of his own... His pal, or former pal Ben O'Keefe was a witness for the prosecution ( and it probably was that or be charged with murder himself, he being Lachlans helper, for the munificent sum of 45 bucks. ) and that the only witnesses were for the Prosecution.

That the trial stopped before , if there were any, witnesses attesting to Lachlan's good character were presented to the jury ... ,perhaps none could be rustled up. Perhaps none volunteered.. Perhaps at this point , Young had nothing to combat the evidence given by the Prosecution witnesses..

( It is a remarkable salutation to the Victorian DPP to have this happen, its rare and it does underline the incredible integrity of the Dept, to bring a case to court of such lay down misere that the defence folds before it brings up their first witness )


(Absolute certainty
The phrase "lay down misére" refers to a situation that is an absolute certainty or a "dead cert." It originates from the card game 500, where a player bids to lose every trick, placing their cards face-up on the table, indicating their confidence in the outcome. This term is commonly used in Australian and New Zealand slang to express a high level of certainty about an event occurring. )

I think that it's still odd he admitted murdering Hannah.
If there's so much evidence against an accused sometimes a judge will halt the trial and bring down a guilty verdict, perhaps not with a jury trial though.
To me Erin Patterson was obviously guilty of murdering three people, (even though the jury took many days to decide) and Erin kept fighting to the bitter end.
This piece of s*#t should get the maximum sentence and deserves to spend the rest of his life in hell and thereafter in hell as well. No sentence can be harsh enough for what he did. IMO

 

[HoneyBunOne]

A question for those with more knowledge than me.
The article below quotes the following:

"The prosecution said she was suffocated, while the defence claimed Ms McGuire died when she hit her head against a bathroom sink during an argument with Young."

Now we know she died in the home they shared (I believe), then along with her car, was torched until the car was completely burnt out. Without going into gruesome details, this must have made for a horrible discovery of Hannah's body. I'm not sure what an autopsy would be able to reveal in the circumstances. How and where did the prosecution get the idea she was suffocated? Obviously the defence have come forward with the suggestion it was a form of accidental death which, minus the fact she was burnt, would surely show on an autopsy as blunt force trauma? I guess I'm just wondering if either suggestion, suffocation or blunt force trauma, would be visible on an autopsy of a burnt body.

The courtroom drama of Lachlan Young's murder trial

From start to finish the Lachlan Young trial for the alleged murder of Hannah McGuire was riddled with twists and turns. A look back on a turbulent eight days in court.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Kemug]

Sadly my mind isn't quite what it once was, but there is a little niggle going on in it that I saw or heard somewhere that he met with his family the night before this about-face. Did I dream that?

 

[Trooper]

A question for those with more knowledge than me.
The article below quotes the following:

"The prosecution said she was suffocated, while the defence claimed Ms McGuire died when she hit her head against a bathroom sink during an argument with Young."

Now we know she died in the home they shared (I believe), then along with her car, was torched until the car was completely burnt out. Without going into gruesome details, this must have made for a horrible discovery of Hannah's body. I'm not sure what an autopsy would be able to reveal in the circumstances. How and where did the prosecution get the idea she was suffocated? Obviously the defence have come forward with the suggestion it was a form of accidental death which, minus the fact she was burnt, would surely show on an autopsy as blunt force trauma? I guess I'm just wondering if either suggestion, suffocation or blunt force trauma, would be visible on an autopsy of a burnt body.

The courtroom drama of Lachlan Young's murder trial

From start to finish the Lachlan Young trial for the alleged murder of Hannah McGuire was riddled with twists and turns. A look back on a turbulent eight days in court.

www.abc.net.au

I don't know if this answers your question, but the claim about Hannah's death that the prosecution says .......>>>>comes from Ben O'Keefe . He said, Lachlan told him that Hannah had suffocated. Lachlan tells a few stories, one of which is she fell and hit her head...

Hannah McGuire murder trial: accused killer claims ex-partner hit her head during argument

Workmate of accused murderer Lachlan Young tells a jury he did not know 23-year-old was inside ute set on fire in remote bushland

www.theguardian.com

As to ascertaining these things from an autopsy...... had she drowned ,say, there would be water in her lungs.... if she was alive when the car was burning, there could be smoke in her lungs, that she inhaled... but the car had burned for approx 6 hours, , what could be revealed may have been minute...

Obviously, the defence had no faith in the results of an autopsy favouring their client's story...

 

[Trooper]

Sadly my mind isn't quite what it once was, but there is a little niggle going on in it that I saw or heard somewhere that he met with his family the night before this about-face. Did I dream that?

I have another niggle, it is... in between Samantha Murphy's disappearance, in January, and Hannah in April, in Sebastopol where Lachlan Young, and Ben O'Keefe live , in February a bloke who called himself the Sherrif, an old pensioned off bikie, with delusions of grandeur , in front of his 2 kids, shot his wife and himself, her name was Rebecca Young, is she related to these Young's of Lachlans??

and yes, he did , I was surprised by that, I presumed they'd made the journey down to the remand centre, I struggle to believe he was held in custody in Ballarat for this trial.. the security issues would be enormous...

 

[Marg944]

Sadly my mind isn't quite what it once was, but there is a little niggle going on in it that I saw or heard somewhere that he met with his family the night before this about-face. Did I dream that?

You are absolutely spot on Kemug!! Nothing wrong with your mind!!!

This was on the Thursday…..

“A juror was discharged because they were "not capable of continuing", and the remaining jury was given a rare day off so Young could see his family.”

The courtroom drama of Lachlan Young's murder trial

From start to finish the Lachlan Young trial for the alleged murder of Hannah McGuire was riddled with twists and turns. A look back on a turbulent eight days in court.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Trooper]

And while Lachlan Young took the colossal gamble by refusing to plead guilty and going for not guilty of murder, it is fair to underline that the Victorian DPP , and the State Prosecutor assigned to the case took an almighty gamble too, in the interests of justice. It would have been cheaper and less work to accept Lachlan's offer of guilty to manslaughter, it could have all been over in an hour, and the taxpayer funded barristers of Lachlan would have had a seriously depleted bill to present.

But VICPOL and the Dept. of Public Prosecution believed , strongly believed , that Lachlan had taken to Hannah with murderous intent and had succeeded in that intent , and in addition , attempted to succeed in disposing of her body with malice, and refused the proffer Lachlan's barristers made to the court, to be tried on a lesser charge, and as it turns out, rightly so. They had the evidence to back up their allegations.

And sometimes that's where our taxes go to, and we would be a poorer community if it was not so...

 

[Cedars]

There were also many moments of tension, particularly between members of the public gallery.

When Young's father and sister attended court for day five, six and seven, they were subjected to looks and quiet, angry words from Ms McGuire's family and friends.

the remaining jury was given a rare day off so Young could see his family

IMO quite possibly his sister etc begged him to plead guilty - if they were being harrassed in court, imagine what was happening outside the court.

JMO

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I don't know if this answers your question, but the claim about Hannah's death that the prosecution says .......>>>>comes from Ben O'Keefe . He said, Lachlan told him that Hannah had suffocated. Lachlan tells a few stories, one of which is she fell and hit her head...

Hannah McGuire murder trial: accused killer claims ex-partner hit her head during argument

Workmate of accused murderer Lachlan Young tells a jury he did not know 23-year-old was inside ute set on fire in remote bushland

www.theguardian.com

As to ascertaining these things from an autopsy...... had she drowned ,say, there would be water in her lungs.... if she was alive when the car was burning, there could be smoke in her lungs, that she inhaled... but the car had burned for approx 6 hours, , what could be revealed may have been minute...

Obviously, the defence had no faith in the results of an autopsy favouring their client's story...

Thanks, it sounds like Lachlan could blame aliens for her death next. The truth doesn't seem to come easy to him IMO. I do fear that her body is too damaged to find a true cause of death, given that she was already dead before being set fire to.

 

[Marg944]

Hannah McGuire murder: Pre-sentence hearing set down for killer ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young​

“Senior Crown Prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the court she was proposing a three-day plea hearing — not because there was significant issues left to argue but because she expected a large number of victim impact statements from Ms McGuire’s loved ones.


Justice James Elliott listed a three-day plea hearing to begin on October 27 in Ballarat.”

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/hannah-mcguire-murder-presentence-hearing-set-down-for-killer-exboyfriend-lachlan-young/news-story/bd073561663aa90c54f4a7b5a07f23c1

 

[Trooper]

MSN

The revelation comes after he ended his Supreme Court murder trial in July after eight days when he abruptly pleaded guilty to murdering Ms McGuire.

The 23-year-old Sebastopol man had been on trial after the prosecutor rejected his guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Young appeared before Ballarat Magistrates Court via video link on Monday to face six charges of witness intimidation and harassment.

But the hearing was adjourned to January 29, 2026 until after his sentence had been handed down.

Young allegedly intimidated a witness whom he believed was involved in a criminal investigation and is accused of harassing the victim by sending menacing letters around July 23, 2024, court documents revealed.

Details of these charges were previously prevented from being aired publicly until the jury in Young's trial had reached a verdict or if he pleaded guilty to murder.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

LY is racking up quite a large amount of charges in his short time on earth. Murder, intimidating a witness, rape.....
I still fail to see what Hannah would have seen in him. Maybe he has charisma out the wazoo, maybe he's funny as hell, but for the life of me I can't see why she would choose him out of all the men in the world, or at least the greater Ballarat region.