The killer of young Ballarat woman Hannah McGuire has been found not guilty of raping a 16-year-old student two months before the murder.

It can now be revealed, after a suppression order was lifted, that Lachlan Young, 24, had been accused of forcing a girl he’d just met to have sex with him in a neighbour’s backyard during a party.

Weeks after the alleged rape, Young attacked and killed his ex-girlfriend, McGuire, 23, burnt her body in a car in a state forest and tried to make her death look like suicide.

On Thursday, a County Court jury of 10 men and two women found Young not guilty of rape following two days of deliberations. It followed a week-long trial, which took place without the jury hearing of Young’s criminal background.

The jury was told that in February 2024, the alleged victim and a group of friends spent the day together, ate at a Ballarat hotel and then attended a home in the Ballarat suburb of Sebastopol.

Prosecutor Andrew Buckland told the court that while the group was at the house, an older sibling arrived with his friend, Young, to socialise in the shed. There, the larger group played pool, drank alcohol and sat by the fire.

When some of the younger members of the group went to bed, Young had sat beside the complainant and asked for her Snapchat.

Buckland said Young was then accused of asking if she “wanted to do something” but the girl refused and went to bed.

The pair allegedly continued to exchange messages, including the girl writing to Young: “do you know how old I am”, and “no, I’m 16″.

The girl told the jury that about 3am, she agreed to meet Young in the backyard where she consented to him putting his hands into her shorts.

He then allegedly asked, “Do you want to f---?” The girl told the court she said no, but accused Young of forcing himself onto her.

The next day, the jury heard, the girl told one of her friends she was raped by Young.

The trial heard that weeks later, she messaged Young to say, “how’s ya missus? How would she feel about f---ing an underage and cheating on her?” and later “you’re pathetic Lachie, you f---ed me even though I said no”.

Young blocked the girl, and she later reported the alleged rape to a school wellbeing counsellor who contacted police.

During the trial, Young gave evidence and denied raping the teenage complainant.

He told the jury that during the evening in February 2024 he had communicated “very little” with the girl over Snapchat, believing she was over 18.

“She was there drinking alcohol and I overheard a conversation that they had been at the pub earlier that night,” he said.

Young said that about 6am the next day, he left the shed and the complainant came out to meet him.

“One thing’s led to another and we’ve come on to each other. We started kissing,” Young told the court.

The carpenter said that during this time, the girl told him she was 16 and he said he gently pushed her away.

“I wasn’t interested in the age gap and I didn’t wanna go down that path of getting into trouble. I said, ‘Nothing more can happen’, and, ‘Sorry, but I’m not interested’,” Young told the jury.

“Once I said that, I started to walk back to the shed and she’s sort of followed me and she said that it’s fine and no one will have to know and no one will get in any trouble. I said, ‘Sorry, I’m still not interested’, and I continued to walk back to the shed.”

Young maintained he and the girl were in the backyard together for about five minutes. He told the trial he later blocked her on Snapchat because he didn’t want to entertain claims he raped her.

While under cross-examination, Young said: “I had a partner at home. I was doing the wrong thing and it shouldn’t have got to that stage and I pulled it up.”

Young is already serving a jail term of 28 years, with a non-parole period of 22 years and four months, for what a judge last year described as the “brutal and callous” murder of McGuire, which was “extreme act of domestic violence”.

Young strangled his ex-girlfriend on the bathroom floor of the home they once shared in Sebastopol, in Ballarat’s south, about 2.30am on April 5, 2024.

He then dumped McGuire’s body in the back of her orange ute, drove to Scarsdale, south-west of Ballarat, and set the vehicle alight with a blowtorch.

Young then tried to cover up the murder by sending a series of text messages, purporting to be from McGuire, to her mother in an attempt to make her death look like suicide. He then feigned grief and shock at her death.

Young abruptly pleaded guilty to murdering McGuire eight days into his 2024 murder trial, after her parents, friends and colleagues had already been forced to give evidence.

He will remain in custody on the murder conviction.

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.