‘Come home to mum’: Parents recount frantic search for Hannah McGuire on day of alleged murder

Warning: Distressing content

“Come home to mum, Hannah. I love you.”

It was the final messages in a spate of desperate texts Debbie McGuire sent to her allegedly murdered daughter Hannah’s phone in the early hours of April 5, 2024, as she and her husband, Glenn, embarked on a frantic search for the 23-year-old.

Debbie’s voice cracked and she broke down in tears as she read the last text messages to 14 jurors on Monday while providing evidence in the Supreme Court trial of the Ballarat woman’s alleged murder at the hands of ex-partner Lachlan Young.

Prosecutors allege Young tried to cover up Hannah’s murder by sending a series of text messages purporting to be her, resembling a suicide note, to her mother at 3.43am.

“I tried messaging Lach, but he doesn’t want anything to do with me now,” the message shown to the jury said. “Please check in on him. This is going to break his heart.”

But the prosecution allege Hannah was already dead when the texts were sent.

They allege her body was inside a ute, which had been set alight in remote bushland.

Glenn McGuire also wiped away tears as he recounted how he too began repeatedly texting his daughter after being woken up by his distressed wife just before 4am, before getting in his car and driving to the house in Ballarat Hannah had once shared with Young.

The father told jurors when he arrived at the house he jumped the fence and looked for his daughter’s car and checked the shed but found no sign of her.

Young, 23, has admitted he killed Hannah before driving her body to bushland in Scarsdale, 25 kilometres south-west of Ballarat, and setting her car on fire. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but not guilty to murder.

The court was told on Monday that on February 16, 2023, more than a year before she was killed, Hannah had been “hysterical” when she called her mother after an argument with Young about not wanting to buy a house with him.

“She was really crying a lot ... she said that she had told Lachie that she changed her mind about buying that particular house ... he just lost it ... he started yelling and started kicking her car door in,” Debbie told the court.

She said her daughter – who had stayed in their family home that evening – called her again the next day, “really upset” and “screaming down the phone” that Young had waited for her to finish work.

The court heard Young is then accused of following Hannah in his car, driving erratically towards incoming traffic so he could pull up next to her, screaming at her as he attempted to run her off the road. He then allegedly got out of his vehicle and began punching her car windows.

The jurors were told that more than a year later, on March 17, 2024, after the couple had reconciled and bought a house together, despite her parents’ concerns, Hannah called her mother whispering from the bedroom.

The court heard Hannah told her mother she was frightened of Young and planned to leave him the next day.

Glenn McGuire told the court the last time he saw his daughter, who had recently ended her relationship with Young, she was eating pizza with her netball teammates at the family pub in Clunes, a small town north of Ballarat. Glenn said Hannah told him she was going to a friend’s farewell party that night.

As he described these final moments with his daughter on Monday, Glenn was so overcome by emotion that the court hearing was temporarily adjourned.

The prosecution alleges that on April 4, Hannah went to meet Young at the house they previously shared, arriving about 9.47pm.

Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill alleges Hannah was killed with “murderous intent” some time after 1.50am on April 5.

Glenn earlier told the jury he had confronted Young about his behaviour towards his daughter while the two were together.

“I don’t feel that Lachie was very nice to Hannah ... [he] didn’t speak nicely [to her] and expected Hannah to do everything,” he said.

“I just said [to Young] that it’s not acceptable to speak to – whether it’s Hannah – but girls in general like that.”

He also told the court about how he helped his daughter – who had feared for her safety after the break-up – pick up some of her belongings from the house she had shared with Young.

He said Young had pushed a couch up against the front door so it could not be opened, and the metal shutters were closed on every window of the house.

Debbie McGuire told the court she had also gone with her daughter to collect Hannah’s belongings following a previous break-up with Young.

She described Young’s demeanour as “scary”, and said he had punched the car as they left, prompting them to call triple zero.

“He was furious and he was yelling,” she said. “Hannah was shaking like a leaf.”

The court also heard that Hannah’s parents, who had access to security cameras set up at Hannah and Young’s home, had observed Young burning large canvas photos of the two together after their break-up.

Jurors also heard evidence from two Ballarat police officers who assisted Hannah when she got an intervention order against Young in 2023.

One officer recalled Hannah being “terrified” after Young had allegedly attempted to run her off the road.

The couple later got back together and bought a house in Sebastopol.

A second intervention order was made in March 2024 after Hannah left Young for the last time, shortly before she was killed.

Last week, Young’s lawyer, Glenn Casement, said Hannah’s death was “an unplanned and spontaneous incident”.

Young is accused of pretending to be Hannah when he transferred thousands of dollars to her mother and $5000 to himself from Hannah’s bank account in the hours after her death.

The trial continues.

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.