Latest news with #LachlanYoung
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Hannah McGuire murder trial: witness denies knowing victim was inside burnt-out ute
A man who claims he saw an accused murderer set fire to a ute has repeatedly denied he knew the alleged victim was inside. Benjamin O'Keefe told the Victorian supreme court he knew the orange Mitsubishi Triton belonged either to Hannah McGuire or her family, but claimed he never thought the 23-year-old McGuire was inside the vehicle when he followed Lachlan Young to the remote bushland location. 'I didn't know her body was in there,' O'Keefe told the jury on Wednesday. Young is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in the early hours of 5 April 2024, before driving her body in the Triton to Scarsdale, south-west of Ballarat, and setting the ute alight. He has admitted to killing McGuire but denies the charge of murder, claiming her death was a spontaneous and unplanned incident. O'Keefe told the court Young shared a plan with him on 2 April to 'roofie' McGuire and cause her to have a car crash in order to scare her out of taking their house. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Two days later, O'Keefe said he heard a car horn and went to his front lawn to see Young waiting inside the Mitsubishi Triton. O'Keefe told the jury he did not look inside the ute and obeyed Young's instructions to follow behind in his vehicle. He claimed they went to Scarsdale where Young drove the Triton into some trees and then ordered O'Keefe to turn his car around. Young then used a yellow blowtorch to set fire to the front of the Triton, O'Keefe told the jury. O'Keefe claimed Young gave him $45 after the incident without an explanation. He told the jury he deleted security camera footage of him leaving and returning to his house because he did not want to be connected to the car fire. But he maintained he only suspected McGuire was in the vehicle after he learned she had died later that day. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion O'Keefe said he visited Young, worried he may have been implicated in a murder. 'I went up to him and said, 'Hannah better not have been in that car',' he told the jury. He claimed Young told him McGuire was already dead as she had been suffocated. Under questioning from defence barrister Glenn Casement, O'Keefe repeatedly denied he knew McGuire was in the Triton. O'Keefe admitted he did not contact police, instead deciding to drink with Young and then go on a camping trip with friends. Detectives arrested O'Keefe on 7 April but he was never charged over McGuire's death. The trial continues.
ABC News
a day 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
a day 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
2 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.
ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
Hannah McGuire's parents give evidence in Lachlan Young murder trial
The parents of young Clunes woman Hannah McGuire have today given evidence about how they tried to help their daughter leave the man accused of murdering her. Debbie and Glenn McGuire told Victorian Supreme Court jurors in Ballarat that Ms McGuire's ex-partner, Lachlan Young, was a problem drinker with a temper, who did not treat their daughter well. Mr Young, 23, has admitted to killing Ms McGuire and dumping her body in bushland, but denies he did so with murderous intent. He's pleaded not guilty to 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. During her testimony, Ms McGuire's mother described several hysterical phone calls for help from her 23-year-old daughter during violent episodes from Mr Young. In one instance, the court heard how Mrs McGuire tried to calm her daughter down while Mr Young pursued her in a car and tried to run her off the road. "She was really, really upset; screaming down the phone that Lachlan had waited for her to finish work and he was following her in her car," Mrs McGuire told the court. "He was sitting behind her beeping his horn, and would come out beside her into oncoming traffic trying to get her to pull over… [he] was punching the car windows and screaming at her to get out." The court heard that on another occasion, while helping her daughter retrieve belongings from the home she shared with Mr Young, Mrs McGuire told jurors that a heavily intoxicated Mr Young used an angle grinder to hack a canopy off her daughter's car, pulled wires out from under the bonnet, and punched the vehicle on the way out. "He was scary, he was furious and he was yelling," she told the court. Ms McGuire's father, Glenn McGuire, broke down while detailing his attempts to help his daughter escape the relationship with Mr Young. This included assisting her to break into her own home through a bathroom window because Mr Young had confiscated Ms McGuire's keys. Mr and Mrs McGuire both told the court they never supported the pair's relationship. The court heard Ms McGuire was last seen by her parents at their Clunes hotel on April 4 last year, when they said she was in good spirits, chatting with netball mates over pizza. At 3:43am the next morning, Mrs McGuire received a text message from her daughter's phone stating "I'm sorry mum, I thought this was the right decision. I tried to heal and cope with it all but I'm not okay". Mrs McGuire responded: "What… where are you… you're not making sense… you're not going back to him." Jurors saw more than 20 unanswered messages that Mrs McGuire sent to her daughter, begging her to get in contact. "Come home to mum Hannah. I love you," the final message read. The court heard these messages from Ms McGuire's phone, along with bank transactions, were sent by Mr Young to Ms McGuire's parents in an attempt to stage her death as a suicide. The five-week trial continues.
