Lachlan Young told friend Hannah McGuire 'was suffocated', court hears

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

A friend of the man on trial for the murder of Clunes woman Hannah McGuire has told a jury the accused admitted she was "suffocated" and already dead when he torched a car containing her body.
Lachlan Young, 23, has admitted to killing his ex-partner and dumping her body in bushland, but denies he did so with murderous intent.
He has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to Ms McGuire's murder after an offer to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected.
Over two days, the court heard what Mr Young's work friend, Benjamin O'Keefe, 23, saw, heard and did in the days after Ms McGuire's death in April last year.
Mr O'Keefe told the Ballarat court Mr Young asked him to bring an extra car so Mr Young had a lift home after he planned to drug Ms McGuire, "put her in her car and roll her down a hill".
Mr O'Keefe said he followed Mr Young in his vehicle to nearby bushland in Scarsdale, where he saw him ram Ms McGuire's car into a tree and set it on fire, before being paid $45 for his help.
Mr O'Keefe told jurors he never saw inside the vehicle Mr Young was driving that contained Ms McGuire's remains, and after learning Ms McGuire was dead, had a conversation with Mr Young over a beer.
"I went up to him and said, 'Hannah better not have been in the car,'" Mr O'Keefe said.
The court heard about a second face-to-face conversation between the two the next day, when Mr Young allegedly changed his story and told Mr O'Keefe that Ms McGuire was found dead in a different vehicle.
"Lachie told me that she wasn't in that car and that she'd killed herself in a different car," Mr O'Keefe told the court.
Mr O'Keefe said he had little sleep because it "didn't make sense" and decided to tell his friends "everything" on a camping trip the next day, including his concerns that he was "implicated in a murder".
"[They said] that I should probably go to police," Mr O'Keefe said.
Mr O'Keefe was arrested the following day.
He is not facing any charges.
During cross-examination by Mr Young's defence lawyer, Glenn Casement, Mr O'Keefe was repeatedly questioned about his evidence that he did not know Ms McGuire was in the car he helped dispose of and watched go up in flames.
"You realise how ridiculous your story is," Mr Casement told the court.
"You don't say, 'How'd she get suffocated, Lachlan?' … You don't say, 'Why'd you do that?'"
The defence has offered an alternative version of events about how Ms McGuire died and what Mr O'Keefe's involvement was in her death.
Mr Casement told the court that Ms McGuire died when she hit her head during a physical argument with Mr Young.
He also alleged that Mr O'Keefe saw Ms McGuire's body inside the house, discussed with Mr Young how to dispose of the body, suggested Mr Young burn the car and then torched it himself.
Mr O'Keefe rejected it all.
The five-week trial continues.