A cowardly thug who murdered his ex-girlfriend and made it look like a suicide thinks he’s still owed a discount on his jail sentence.
Hannah McGuire, 23, was terrified of her estranged partner Lachlan Young, then aged 21, when he strangled her in the bathroom of their home and torched her body to make it look like a suicide.
Young maintained his cruel lie for more than a year, all the way up to his Supreme Court of Victoria murder trial.
It was a trial that ran for eight days before the cold-blooded killer saw the writing on the wall and made the decision to plead guilty to the crime.
He had tried to wrangle a sweetheart plea deal from Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill, who outright rejected any notion of allowing him to plead up to manslaughter.
She and everyone in the court knew Young was a dirty, rotten liar who had not only killed the beloved teacher’s aide, but incinerated her body and claimed she had suicided by fire.
On Monday, Young’s barrister Liam McAuliffe stood a metre from Ms McGuire’s parents within the Supreme Court of Victoria in Ballarat and told the court his client’s guilty plea mid-trial ought to earn him less time behind bars.
By then, several witnesses had already been made to enter the witness box and relive the horror of what Young had done.
Hannah McGuire knew Lachlan young was bad but didn’t know how to escape his grip
Mr McAulliffe applauded his client for providing an account of how he murdered his estranged partner.
The court heard Young killed Ms McGuire after luring her to their home under the guise of ending their relationship in a civilised manner in April last year.
Young claimed Ms McGuire fled to the bathroom, where he assaulted her.
‘He started pushing and shoving Hannah McGuire before throwing her to the bathroom floor,’ Ms Churchill said.
‘Then, with the intent to kill, the offender put his hands around Miss McGuire’s neck and strangled her for some time. (She) lost consciousness and died on the bathroom floor of the home they once shared.’
Whether any of that actually ever happened will never truly be known.
Forensic experts had little to work with what remained of Ms McGuire’s mangled remains, which amounted to just 13kgs of bone and dust.
Her cause of death could not be ascertained.
Parents of Hannah McGuire, Debbie McGuire (left) and Glenn McGuire (right) arrive at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Ballarat on Monday
Lachlan Young was a twisted loser and thug who never deserved a second in the presence of Hannah McGuire
Mr McAulliffe suggested Young’s explanation provided his victim’s family with ‘closure’.
‘There was undoubtedly finality and closure brought to that part of the proceedings,’ he said.
‘Hearing those words guilty from Mr Young’s mouth, his mouth to murder in my respectful submission, rather than the jury’s mouth. It can’t be understated, shouldn’t be understated in this case.’
Mr McAulliffe suggested his client’s actions should be lauded for encouraging people in his situation to cough up an explanation.
‘There’s no small thing to admit in the circumstances to murder, especially where he was young, he was immature,’ he said.
Mr McAulliffe claimed that story showed true signs of remorse.
‘He just could have said nothing, but he didn’t and did more than that, and did more than what people of greater age, maturity, and intellect do,’ he claimed.
Mr McAulliffe further claimed his client’s youth should limit the time he spent behind bars.
The court heard the cowardly killer had spent more than a year in protective custody, but still had time to work as a prison billet.
The Sebastopol home where Lachlan Young murdered Hannah McGuire
The burnt section of bushland where Young torched the body of Ms McGuire
Mr McAulliffe described the murder as a ‘spontaneous act’ by an immature young man despite claims by a mate he had devised a devious plan to hurt Ms McGuire.
The court heard Young had asked a mate to help him drug Ms McGuire.
‘The offender told him that he wanted to roofie Hannah, drive her out somewhere, put her behind the wheel, and make the vehicle crash while she wasn’t conscious,’ Ms Churchill said.
‘He said he wanted to scare the deceased so she would not take his house and his things.’
But Mr McAulliffe argued those assertions could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
That mate had had Young’s name justifiably stored in his phone under the title ‘F**khead’.
Mr McAulliffe suggested his evidence was implausible and ought not be taken into consideration as an aggravating factor upon sentence.
He claimed his client had suffered a traumatic childhood marked by his own alcohol and drug issues.
The presentence hearing will continue on Tuesday.
