Hannah McGuire’s grieving family has been dealt another blow just days after her body was found in a burning car and her younger brother was jailed.
Fletcher McGuire, 21, was sentenced to up to four years and five months in prison on Thursday, less than a week after the alleged murder of his sister.
McGuire and his co-accused, Aiden Gray, also 21, appeared in Melbourne County Court over a crime spree in western Victoria in September 2022.
McGuire was given a three-year non-parole period, and the judge acknowledged the recent death of 23-year-old Ms. McGuire.
The Ballarat Local Newspaper, The courier servicereported that McGuire had only been out of prison for a week when he and Gray stole a 2004 Holden Commodore.
Hannah’s brother Fletcher (pictured) McGuire, 21, has been sentenced to four years and five months behind bars.
On September 29, 2022, McGuire, who had previously been convicted of aggravated robbery, reckless causing injury and dangerous driving, and Gray demanded car keys from a man sitting at the Canadian Lookout in Ballarat.
In a disturbing but unrelated coincidence, the lookout is located near the woods where supposedly murdered mother Samantha Murphy, 51, disappeared during her morning run on February 4, 2024.
During the carjacking, McGuire or Gray told the Commodore’s owner, “I’ll stab you 70 times.” The courier service reported.
It has not been established which of the two was carrying the knife.
Both were found guilty by the jury of the violent carjacking on November 22, 2023.
Hannah McGuire (pictured) was found dead inside a burnt-out car on Victoria Road, near State Forest Road in Scarsdale, 25km south-west of Ballarat, on the morning of April 5.
McGuire and Gray also pleaded guilty to armed robbery. The court heard the pair had confronted a man traveling to the Apco service station on Gisborne Road, in Bacchus Marsh, at around 6am on September 30, 2022, a day after the car was stolen.
The court heard Gray get out of the couple’s vehicle and tell the owner of a Land Cruiser: “It’s not your car anymore, give me the bloody keys.”
The man refused to hand over the keys and began to struggle with Gray, who was armed with a hunting knife, the local newspaper reported.
During the fight, McGuire got out of his and Gray’s car and hit the owner of the Land Cruiser with a steel baseball bat.
Gray grabbed the man’s keys, which had fallen to the ground, and he and Gray fled the scene in the Land Cruiser.
However, they returned to the scene shortly after realizing that they had forgotten a mobile phone.
In exchange for the device, the couple gave the man the keys to the Commodore.
The hunting knife and the metal baseball bat were left at the scene.
Fletcher McGuire’s judge noted on Thursday that his sentence would be a blow to his already grieving family (pictured, the McGuires outside Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday)
Aidan Gray (pictured) was found guilty of committing the carjacking along with Fletcher McGuire in late 2022.
Both McGuire and Gray were subsequently arrested at a motel in Essendon, in Melbourne’s west, on October 1, 2022. They have since been denied bail.
Judge Frank Gucciardo spoke Thursday about the couple’s criminal history and early drug use, noting that Mcguire began using cocaine when he was just 13 years old.
The court heard McGuire was born to supportive parents in Clunes, north of Ballarat, who paid for him to spend a month in a drug rehabilitation center before committing his offences.
However, McGuire had a difficult childhood and was suspended more than ten times in his eighth grade due to fighting.
McGuire had met Gray at Federation TAFE, where McGuire studied landscape architecture. Both have already served more than 550 days of pre-sentence detention.
During McGuire’s sentencing, Judge Gucciardo acknowledged that his family was already struggling due to his sister’s death.
Hannah McGuire’s ex-boyfriend and alleged killer Lachlan Young (pictured) faced Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Hannah McGuire’s body was found inside a burnt-out car on Victoria Road, near State Forest Road in Scarsdale, 25 kilometers south-west of Ballarat, on the morning of April 5.
Her ex-boyfriend and alleged killer, Lachlan Young, 21, appeared in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday as Hannah’s family looked on tearfully.
Defense lawyer Crystal Caruana said Young suffered from mental health issues. She will undergo a medication and mental health review while she is in custody.
Hannah McGuire’s body was found in an area of bushland in Ballarat last Friday, April 5 (pictured, flowers left where she was discovered)
During Fletcher McGuire’s sentencing, Judge Gucciardo said: ‘In more recent times your family has suffered the death of your sister in tragic circumstances.
‘The cost of this sentence undoubtedly exacerbates his anguish.
“In a case like this, your offense means you have truly jumped from trouble to raging fire.”