Ballarat man sentenced to 28 years’ jail for murder of Hannah McGuire

3 months ago 23

An alarming number of Australian women have been killed in recent years. Find out more about their lives. Some of the cases are still before the courts.

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A Ballarat man who strangled his former partner Hannah McGuire to death before burning her body has been jailed for 28 years, with a judge describing his conduct as “brutal” and an “extreme act of domestic violence”.

Supreme Court Justice James Elliott said Lachlan Young’s murder of the Clunes woman was yet another case of an “innocent and defenceless” woman being killed by a man they had trusted.

Hannah McGuire, 23, was found dead in April 2024 in Scarsdale, near Ballarat.

As his sentence was handed down, 23-year-old Young stood in the dock of the packed Ballarat Supreme Court, dressed in a black shirt, and stared straight ahead.

Elliott said Young’s sense of entitlement and aggression towards McGuire in the lead-up to her death was “manifest” and had all the hallmarks of an “abusive and domineering relationship”.

The court heard Hannah told police she was “terrified” of Young in the months before her murder.

McGuire’s parents, Debbie and Glenn, sat in the front of the courtroom and held each other. As the sentence was handed down, family and friends turned to look at Young and wiped away tears.

Young abruptly pleaded guilty to murdering McGuire eight days into his trial, after her parents, friends and colleagues had already been forced to give evidence.

The court previously heard Young strangled his ex-girlfriend on the bathroom floor of the home they once shared in Sebastopol, in Ballarat’s south, at about 2.30am on April 5 last year.

Elliott said Young had physically assaulted McGuire before shoving her to the floor.

“You then put arms around her neck and strangled her for some time,” he said.

Hannah McGuire’s mother Debbie (centre) outside court.

Young then dumped the 23-year-old’s body in the back of her orange Mitsubishi Triton ute, before driving to Scarsdale and setting the vehicle alight with a blowtorch.

Young tried to cover up the murder by sending a series of text messages, purporting to be from McGuire, to her mother in an attempt to make her death look like suicide.

McGuire’s parents previously told the court how they desperately searched for their daughter after receiving the texts when she was, in fact, already dead.

“I will never forget, and I will never forgive. It is a burden I will carry for the rest of my life,” Hannah’s mother Debbie McGuire said.

“There are mornings I wake, and I forget for a brief second that she is gone, and then the immense pain and suffering the accused has caused hits me all over again.”

Hannah’s father said he struggled with thoughts of suicide and felt he had failed to protect his daughter.

Elliott said the suffering of McGuire’s parents was difficult to comprehend.

“From all accounts of those who gave statements to this court … she was obviously a very special, warm, giving and thoughtful person who lived her life in the interest of others,” he said.

Young cried once during the hearing, when Elliott mentioned how his sister had visited him in jail, admitting to killing McGuire and expressing his remorse.

On Tuesday, the Ballarat courtroom was filled with McGuire’s family, friends and colleagues from Delacombe Primary School, where she worked as a teacher’s aide.

Young frequently degraded McGuire, body-shamed her, screamed and swore at her in public, controlled her and stalked her outside her workplace before trying to run her off the road in his car.

He was also repeatedly physically violent towards her and called her 129 times in less than 24 hours following a break-up.

Young was given a non-parole period of 22 years and four months.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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