A mother has broken down in court while recounting the desperate messages she sent her daughter, believing the young woman had taken her own life.

Instead, Lachlan Young was the one sending the texts from Hannah McGuire’s phone after he allegedly murdered the 23-year-old and burnt her body in a ute in remote bushland in Scarsdale, southwest of Ballarat.

Young has admitted to killing his former partner and sending the fake suicide note to her mother.

But the 23-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming it was a spontaneous incident.

Ms McGuire’s mother Debbie on Monday told the Victorian Supreme Court she woke about 3.40am on April 5, 2024 to a text purporting to be from her daughter.

It stated Hannah was sorry and she thought it was the right decision.

“I tried messaging Lach but he doesn’t want anything to do with me now,” the message shown to the jury continued.

“Please check in on him – this is going to break his heart.”

Debbie McGuire’s series of responses were shown to the jury, where she repeatedly asked where her daughter was and urged her not to do “anything silly”.

“You can’t live the way you were living – being spoken to like shit and treated like crap,” her messages said.

“Remember why you left (Young) in the first place.”

Mrs McGuire broke down as she read aloud some of her responses, telling the court Hannah’s messages “didn’t feel right”.

The mother said she immediately jumped in her car and went to the property in Sebastopol that Young and her daughter owned together.

Mrs McGuire knocked on the door and bedroom window several times to no response, only to see Young and his father approaching from down the road.

She said Young seemed genuinely concerned about Hannah’s whereabouts and appeared shocked at the messages he had also purportedly received from her.

He also feigned surprise at the $5000 he had received in his bank account from Hannah, Mrs McGuire said.

Young has admitted to transferring the money to himself and $2000 to Ms McGuire’s parents.

Mrs McGuire reported her daughter’s disappearance to police and hours later she was notified that Hannah’s body had been found in a burnt-out vehicle.

She told the court she was never supportive of her daughter’s relationship with Young, noting Hannah was not herself when she was with him.

Mrs McGuire told the jury of a time in February 2023 when her daughter called her in hysterics as Young followed her in his car.

Ms McGuire claimed Young was beeping his horn and at times driving up alongside her vehicle to try and make her pull over, the mother said.

“I told her to lock her doors, to not pull over and to drive straight to the police station,” Mrs McGuire said.

Ms McGuire took out an intervention order against Young, but the couple got back together and purchased the Sebastopol property.

A second intervention order was made in March 2024 after she decided to leave Young and he attacked her car as she tried to recover her belongings.

Under questioning from Young’s barrister Glenn Casement, Mrs McGuire denied knowing her daughter voluntarily went and saw Young after their separation, including on the night she was killed.

Ms McGuire’s father Glenn also told the court he was unaware of their supposed meet-ups.

Mr McGuire gave evidence about taking his daughter to a solicitor and the bank in early April 2024 to sort out her financial situation post-separation.

He broke down as he recounted the last time he saw Hannah at their pub with her netball teammates on the evening of April 4.

She was allegedly murdered by Young hours later.

The trial before Justice James Elliott continues.

Help is available from the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.