14-07-2025
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.
