There have been tears and applause in a Victorian courtroom after a young man accused of murdering his former partner suddenly changed his plea to guilty mid-trial.
Lachlan Young, now 23, has been on trial in the Victorian Supreme Court in Ballarat over the murder of Hannah McGuire on April 5, 2024.
He had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, admitting he did kill her and burn her body in her own car, since the trial began on July 9.
However, he denied murdering the 23-year-old, claiming her death was instead an “unplanned and spontaneous” event.
Today, Young changed his plea to guilty, admitting that he did murder McGuire in Ballarat then dumped her body in a car in Scarsdale and set it alight.
His confession was met by a roar of applause from the courtroom.
He will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.
The prosecution alleged that after the murder Young sent text messages to McGuire’s mother to make her think her daughter had taken her own life.
“I tried messaging Lach but he doesn’t want anything to do with me now,” the message shown to the jury read.
“Please check in on him – this is going to break his heart.”
McGuire’s mother Debbie cried as she read aloud some of her responses, telling the court the messages “didn’t feel right”.
Young previously admitted to transferring $5000 from McGuire’s bank account to himself and $2000 to McGuire’s parents after her death.
McGuire’s father Glenn also broke down on the stand as he recounted the last time he saw his daughter at their pub with her netball teammates on the evening of April 4.
She was murdered by Young hours later.
