A drug consumer who buried his useless girlfriend’s physique within the distant Victorian bushland has been discovered responsible of her homicide.
Toby Loughnane, 44, pleaded not responsible within the Supreme Court docket of Victoria to the homicide of Maryam Hamka at his Brighton dwelling in Melbourne’s southeast.
Prosecutors stated he murdered the 36-year-old within the early hours of April 11, 2021, after months of violent assaults and threatening textual content messages.
Loughnane then disposed of Ms Hamka’s physique in a shallow grave at Cape Schanck, southeast of Melbourne, on April 14.
He led investigators to her stays in August 2023.
Loughnane denied the homicide cost, claiming as an alternative that Ms Hamka died of a drug overdose.
He needed to plead responsible to the lesser cost of negligent manslaughter however the provide was rejected by prosecutors.
Maryam Hamka was murdered by Toby Loughnane in 2021
Toby Loughnane believed he might escape justice, however was discovered responsible of homicide on Friday
As an alternative, a homicide trial was run with a jury listening to shut to 3 weeks of proof.
Exterior courtroom, Ms Hamka’s household instructed ready media they’d endured a protracted highway to justice.
‘It’s been a protracted three years, it’s throughout now, acquired a responsible consequence and we’re joyful,’ Ms Hamka’s brother Hassan stated.
‘He acquired what he deserved.’
In his closing handle to the jury, Loughnane’s barrister Daniel Sala conceded his consumer acted reprehensibly in the direction of Ms Hamka within the months earlier than her demise and that he disposed of her physique in bushland and didn’t inform investigators till years later.
He claimed Loughnane’s solely crime was breaching an obligation of care by not calling an ambulance on April 11 and he was a heavy drug consumer who was making an attempt to distance himself from her manslaughter.
Prosecutor Kristie Churchill argued Loughnane hated Ms Hamka, telling the jury he had been controlling, abusive and violent in the direction of her within the lead-up to her demise.
Ms Churchill instructed the jury it was not an inexpensive chance that Ms Hamka died of a drug overdose, as an alternative Loughnane fatally assaulted her with murderous intent.
The jury started deliberating on Wednesday afternoon, taking lower than two days to succeed in its responsible verdict on Friday.
Maryam Hamka was brutally murdered by her thug boyfriend
Maryam Hamka’s killer was discovered responsible of homicide on Friday
The jury heard Loughnane despatched Ms Hamka a collection of threatening messages within the lead-up to her demise.
The messages included, ‘I’ll break up your cranium’, ‘I am going to go to (jail) simply to see you endure you canine’, ‘you are useless’ and ‘wait till I get my palms on you canine’, Ms Churchill stated.
Loughnane additionally pursued Ms Hamka in a automobile in 2021, adopted her into her household dwelling and threatened her pals, Ms Churchill stated.
The final time her mom noticed Ms Hamka was on April 9, 2021, when Loughnane was screaming at her to get in a automobile earlier than she left together with her alleged assassin, the prosecutor stated.
Ms Hamka was noticed subsequent day on CCTV at a Brunswick Woolworths earlier than she was final seen alive in a ‘confronting’ video filmed by Loughnane, whereby she was half-naked and he was mocking her, Ms Churchill stated.
A buddy of Loughnane’s later noticed Ms Hamka useless within the foetal place within the bathe of his Brighton dwelling, the prosecutor alleged.
Ms Churchill accused Loughnane of making an attempt to cowl up Ms Hamka’s homicide, alleging he despatched her a number of messages after she died, sought a buddy’s assist to purchase a steam cleaner off Gumtree and disposed of her physique in dense bushland.
Maryam Hamka had been frightened of her boyfriend main as much as her homicide
Police discovered a big variety of cleansing merchandise at Loughnane’s dwelling days after Ms Hamka’s demise.
Nearly two years later – in Might 2023 – they acquired info from Loughnane’s legal professionals concerning the location of Ms Hamka’s physique, the prosecutor stated.
Officers later discovered Ms Hamka’s bones in thick bushland at Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula.
Loughnane will face a pre-sentence listening to at a later date.
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