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Sydney Morning Herald
16-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hannah McGuire suffocated and was dead when car set alight, killer allegedly told workmate
A workmate of Lachlan Young has testified the accused murderer told him Hannah McGuire was already dead and had suffocated before Young torched her car with her body inside in bushland south-west of Ballarat. Ballarat man Benjamin O'Keefe has admitted to travelling to Scarsdale, 25 kilometres from Ballarat, alongside Young to dispose of McGuire's car in the early hours of April 5 last year. O'Keefe who says he did not know McGuire, 23, was in the car at the time it was set alight, told Young's Ballarat Supreme Court trial on Wednesday that he learnt of the university student and education support worker's death through a former colleague. 'One of the people I used to work with sent me a message saying Hannah was dead,' he told the jury. 'I called Lachie [Young] because I was worried I was implicated in a murder ... I just wanted to talk to him face to face. He said, 'Yeah, come over for a beer'.' Young, 23, has admitted he killed McGuire, his former partner, before driving her body to bushland and setting her car on fire with her body inside. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder. Last week, Young's lawyer, Glenn Casement, said McGuire's death was 'an unplanned and spontaneous incident'. O'Keefe said that when he arrived at Young's parents' house in Ballarat on April 6, Young's demeanour was calm. He said he confronted Young outside the house about McGuire's death and asked him if she was in the Mitsubishi Triton ute when Young set it on fire the previous evening.
The Age
16-07-2025
- The Age
Hannah McGuire suffocated and was dead when car set alight, killer allegedly told workmate
A workmate of Lachlan Young has testified the accused murderer told him Hannah McGuire was already dead and had suffocated before Young torched her car with her body inside in bushland south-west of Ballarat. Ballarat man Benjamin O'Keefe has admitted to travelling to Scarsdale, 25 kilometres from Ballarat, alongside Young to dispose of McGuire's car in the early hours of April 5 last year. O'Keefe who says he did not know McGuire, 23, was in the car at the time it was set alight, told Young's Ballarat Supreme Court trial on Wednesday that he learnt of the university student and education support worker's death through a former colleague. 'One of the people I used to work with sent me a message saying Hannah was dead,' he told the jury. 'I called Lachie [Young] because I was worried I was implicated in a murder ... I just wanted to talk to him face to face. He said, 'Yeah, come over for a beer'.' Young, 23, has admitted he killed McGuire, his former partner, before driving her body to bushland and setting her car on fire with her body inside. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder. Last week, Young's lawyer, Glenn Casement, said McGuire's death was 'an unplanned and spontaneous incident'. O'Keefe said that when he arrived at Young's parents' house in Ballarat on April 6, Young's demeanour was calm. He said he confronted Young outside the house about McGuire's death and asked him if she was in the Mitsubishi Triton ute when Young set it on fire the previous evening.
