Lachlan Young returns to court for sentence over ex-girlfriend Hannah McGuire’s murder
A jealous and abusive shopkeeper who killed his ex-girlfriend after she ended their relationship is preparing to learn his fate.
Lachlan Young strangled Hannah McGuire, 23, in the house they once shared in the early hours of April 5 last year, after she agreed to stay there and talk.
Later, with the help of a friend who was not charged with any crime, he drove her body to a deserted forest area in his own car and set the vehicle on fire.
Young, who staged her death as a suicide, then sent a series of messages to Ms McGuire’s mother, Debbie McGuire.
“I tried to come back but he doesn’t want anything to do with me, I made the wrong choice and threw everything away,” she says in one message.
Young pleaded guilty to Ms McGuire’s murder during an eight-day trial before a jury in the High Court.
He had previously offered to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, but that offer was flatly rejected by prosecutors in the case.
Young will return to court in Ballarat at 10.30am on Tuesday, where he will be sentenced by Judge James Elliot.
Speaking in court last month, Crown Prosecutor Kristie Churchill said the crime was a “premeditated and premeditated murder” followed by calculated efforts to conceal her involvement “motivated by men’s rights and anger”.
“Women have the right to have and end relationships without it resulting in death,” she said.
“Ms. McGuire was a young woman whose life was taken because the offender did not allow or permit her to live a life beyond his relationship with her.”
Young’s attorney, Glenn Casement, asked Judge Elliott to find that his client’s young age, guilty plea, difficult upbringing and the possibility of rehabilitation should mitigate the final sentence.
“This was a troubled young man and committed a terrible crime, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
Speaking at Young’s pre-sentence hearing, Debbie McGuire described her daughter as her best friend, her greatest joy and “everything the defendant could never be”.
“While I appreciate people who can forgive, unfortunately I am not one of the defendants,” he said.
“The defendant’s actions not only took Hannah’s life, they shattered mine… I demand the fullest extent of justice be served.”
