Hannah McGuire’s alleged killer fights to move trial away from home town

The man accused of killing Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire is fighting to have his murder trial heard in Melbourne rather than in regional Victoria.

A court heard on Tuesday that 21-year-old Lachlan Young’s legal team had filed documents overnight to have the pending Supreme Court murder trial moved to Melbourne.

Young’s lawyers told the hearing that the Office of Public Prosecutions would oppose the application to change the venue of the jury trial.

That means a Supreme Court judge is likely to decide where the trial is held.

A date for the trial has not been set, and Young’s defence team said the court had indicated that any future trial would probably be heard in the “third term” of 2025.

In September, Young elected to have his murder trial fast-tracked to the Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to murdering McGuire, his ex-girlfriend.

On September 19, more than 50 friends and family members of McGuire packed into a courtroom to listen to the proceedings, and many wore black jumpers with the 23-year-old’s image printed on the front and the words, “She matters – remembering Hannah McGuire”.

The option for accused people to have their homicide cases fast-tracked was introduced during the COVID pandemic to prevent lengthy court delays.

But doing so also means an accused person avoids a public committal hearing before a magistrate, where evidence against an accused is usually tested for the first time. That material is instead heard in the Supreme Court and largely cannot be reported on by the media.

McGuire’s body was found in a burnt-out car on April 5 near State Forest Road in Scarsdale, about 25 kilometres south-west of Ballarat. Young was arrested and charged with a single count of murder.

Police allege Young murdered McGuire at Sebastopol, where property records show the young couple bought a home together last year.

McGuire’s death occurred after the high-profile disappearance of Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy in February and the subsequent arrest of a 22-year-old man alleged to have murdered her.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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