Latest news with #BenjaminOKeefe
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Hannah McGuire murder: ex-partner Lachlan Young pleads guilty to murder eight days into trial
Lachlan Young has pleaded guilty to the murder of his ex-partner Hannah McGuire eight days into his trial. The 23-year-old had admitted he killed his former girlfriend, pleading guilty to manslaughter at the start of the trial. He admitted he burnt her body in her own car on 5 April 2024. However, the matter went to trial as he pleaded not guilty to murder and claimed McGuire's death was an 'unplanned and spontaneous event'. The supreme court trial began on 9 July in Ballarat, regional Victoria, where the murder occurred. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Young was accused of murdering McGuire in the early hours of 5 April, before driving her body in a Mitsubishi Triton to Scarsdale, south-west of Ballarat, and setting the ute alight. Earlier in the week, witness Benjamin O'Keefe told the court he saw Young set fire to the Triton, and only learned later that McGuire's body had been inside. O'Keefe told the court on Wednesday he knew the orange ute belonged either to McGuire or her family, but claimed he never thought the 23-year-old was inside the vehicle when he followed Young to a remote bushland location. 'I didn't know her body was in there,' O'Keefe told the jury on Wednesday. Jurors did not sit on Thursday, but returned 10.30am on Friday when Young pleaded guilty to murder. He will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Lachlan Young told friend Hannah McGuire 'was suffocated', court hears
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.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Workmate claims alleged killer planned to 'roofie' murder victim after she broke up with him
An accused murderer planned to drug his ex-girlfriend and crash her in a car so he could scare her out of taking their house, one of his workmates claims. Benjamin O'Keefe told the Victorian Supreme Court that Lachlan Young shared his plan to harm his former partner Hannah McGuire on April 2, 2024. 'He started talking about wanting to roofie Hannah and take her out bush and scare her so she wouldn't take the house and other things from him,' Mr O'Keefe said in evidence on Tuesday. Mr O'Keefe claimed Young asked him to act as a getaway driver, which he ultimately declined after speaking to his girlfriend. Two days later, Mr O'Keefe said he received another message from Young asking him to meet at a nearby corner at midnight. Mr O'Keefe told the jury he went to the designated spot without his phone but Young wasn't there so he returned home. He then heard a car horn and went to his front lawn to see Young waiting inside an orange Mitsubishi Triton. Mr O'Keefe told the jury he did not look inside the ute and instead just obeyed Young's instructions to follow behind in his vehicle. He claimed they went out to remote bushland where Young drove the Triton into some trees and then ordered Mr O'Keefe to turn his car around. Young then used a yellow blow torch to set fire to the front of the Triton, Mr O'Keefe told the jury. After holding the blowtorch there for a few minutes, it's alleged Young then returned to Mr O'Keefe's car but told him to wait a minute. '(We were) just watching the car to make sure it caught on fire,' Mr O'Keefe told the jury. 'That's what Lachie wanted.' Mr O'Keefe claimed Young gave him $45 after the incident although he never explained why. Young is accused of murdering Ms McGuire in the early hours of April 5, before driving her body in the Triton to remote bushland and setting the ute alight. The 23-year-old has admitted to killing Ms McGuire but denies the charge of murder, claiming her death was a spontaneous and unplanned incident. In his opening address, defence barrister Glenn Casement told the jury they should be critical of Mr O'Keefe's evidence, saying he was not a credible witness. Mr Casement is expected to cross-examine Mr O'Keefe on Wednesday after senior crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill finishes her questioning. Lifeline 13 11 14
ABC News
5 days ago
- ABC News
Man tells court Lachlan Young planned to 'roofie' Hannah McGuire and roll her down a hill in her car
The man who unwittingly helped dispose of Hannah McGuire's body has told Victorian Supreme Court jurors her ex-partner and killer wanted to "roofie" Ms McGuire, "put her in her car and roll her down a hill". The court heard Benjamin O'Keefe's job was to bring an extra car so Lachlan Young, on trial for Ms McGuire's murder, had a lift home. Mr Young, 23, has admitted to killing Ms McGuire and dumping her body in bushland, but denies he did so with murderous intent. He has pleaded not guilty to the young Clunes woman's murder after an offer to plead guilty to manslaughter was rejected. Ms McGuire's family reported her missing in April last year, and the 23-year-old's body was later found in a burnt-out vehicle at Scarsdale, south-west of Ballarat. Giving evidence today, Mr O'Keefe, 23, told the court that Mr Young asked him to convoy with him into bushland so he had a ride home after planning to crash Ms McGuire's car with her, unconscious, at the wheel. "He wanted to put her in her car and roll her down a hill … because she was leaving him and she was going to take the house and other things," Mr O'Keefe told the court. "I was supposed to meet him at 12 at night on the corner and follow him in the car, then give him a lift home." Mr O'Keefe said he told Mr Young he could not do it, and tried ignoring his messages, but after a few requests, agreed. He told the court he followed Mr Young in the early hours of April 5, 2024 out to the Scarsdale location, all of which the prosecution corroborated with CCTV footage from the night. Mr O'Keefe told jurors that at no point did he see inside the vehicle Mr Young was driving. When the pair arrived at the Scarsdale site, Mr O'Keefe told the court Mr Young asked him what to do with the vehicle. "I said, dump it, don't burn it. You get in more trouble with a fire," Mr O'Keefe said. "Lachie [Young] drives off and I follow him … he drove down the road then swerved the car and crashed it into a tree." Mr O'Keefe told the court he then watched in his rear-view mirror as Mr Young used a yellow blowtorch to set the two front seats of Ms McGuire's vehicle, with her in it, on fire. Mr Young paid him $45 for his assistance. Earlier in the day, a teaching colleague of Ms McGuire's told the court the school where she worked put a safety plan in place over fears Mr Young would find her at work. Danielle McCann, safety officer at Delacombe Primary School where Ms McGuire was an educational support worker, told the court that whenever Ms McGuire was outside with children, the school monitored entry points on CCTV, locked external doors, and ensured Ms McGuire stayed close to buildings. Ms McCann told the court the school was aware Ms McGuire had obtained an intervention order against Mr Young after he pursued her in a car, tried to run her off the road, and punched the car window. After the intervention order was served, Ms McCann said Ms McGuire continued to receive "threats" from Mr Young. "I asked, 'Are you safe?' Her reply was, 'I don't know'," Ms McCann told the court. Other work friends of Ms McGuire's gave evidence Mr Young was "horrible" and "disrespectful" to her during their relationship, including multiple incidents where they witnessed him yelling, using expletives, and calling her fat. Ms McGuire's work friend Jaymie McDonald told the court about multiple instances where Ms McGuire broke down crying over her relationship with Mr Young. The court also heard how Mr Young phoned and messaged Ms McGuire's friends repeatedly in the hours after she was killed, accusing them of hiding Ms McGuire and causing her death. "When I spoke to him, he was asking me where Hannah was … he was quite accusational that I had Hannah at my house and was hiding her from him," Abby Simpson, another of Ms McGuire's work colleagues, told the court during evidence. The court was shown Ms Simpson's phone logs, which indicated Mr Young attempted to call her dozens of times between 5 and 6am the morning Ms McGuire was killed. He also sent Ms Simpson multiple messages stating: "Where the f*** is she?… Fuck me, if someone has done something to her, I will end their life." The five-week trial continues.
