21-Year-Old Man Charged With Murder of Victorian Woman Found In Burnt-Out Car

A Sebastopol man accused of the murder of 23-year-old Victorian woman Hannah McGuire has been charged with murder at the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court today.

Lachlan Young is facing one count of murder after police found Ms McGuire’s body in a burnt-out car located in Scarsdale last week.

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Emergency services swiftly responded to reports of a car on fire near State Forest Road on Friday.

The court heard that it was the 21-year-old’s first time in custody. 

Police prosecutor Steve Repac said multiple crime scenes and several items, including “CCTV hard drives”, were being analysed. 

“There is some complexity to it, obviously, given the nature of the investigation,” Mr Repac said.

He asked for 16 weeks to gather the evidence before handing it over to the defence, but Young’s lawyer, Crystal Caruana, opposed this time frame.

“Defence have been given nothing by police,” defence lawyer Crystal Caruana told the court.

“All the information we have is being received from the media at this stage and it would appear as though police have swooped very quickly in this matter.

“It would be assumed that there is enough evidence against Mr Young to charge him with murder.”

Magistrate Guillaume Bailin agreed with the prosecutor and ordered police to pass the brief by July 29.

Mr Young was remanded in custody and is expected to return to court again in July.

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