Read the terrifying texts savage drug fiend sent his lover Maryam Hamka before brutally murdering her and burying her body in a shallow grave in the bush

A drug user who buried his dead girlfriend’s body in remote Victorian bushland has been found guilty of her murder.

Toby Loughnane, 44, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murder of Maryam Hamka at his home in Brighton, Melbourne’s south-east.

Prosecutors say he killed the 36-year-old in the early hours of April 11, 2021, after months of violent attacks and threatening text messages.

Loughnane subsequently buried Ms Hamka’s body in a shallow grave at Cape Schanck, south-east of Melbourne, on April 14.

He led investigators to her remains in August 2023.

Loughnane denied the murder charge, claiming instead that Mrs Hamka died of a drug overdose.

He wanted to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, but the prosecution rejected this offer.

Instead, a murder trial was held with a jury hearing nearly three weeks of evidence.

Outside court, Ms Hamka’s family told media they had endured a long road to justice.

“It’s been three long years, it’s all over now, we got a guilty outcome and we’re happy,” said Ms Hamka’s brother Hassan.

“He got what he deserved.”

In his closing address to the jury, Loughnane’s lawyer Daniel Sala admitted that his client had acted reprehensibly towards Ms Hamka in the months before her death and that he had disposed of her body in bushland and only told investigators years later .

He claimed that Loughnane’s only crime was that he breached her duty of care by failing to call an ambulance on April 11. He also claimed that he was a heavy drug user who was trying to distance himself from her killing.

Prosecutor Kristie Churchill argued that Loughnane had a dislike for Ms Hamka, telling the jury he had been controlling, abusive and violent towards her in the run-up to her death.

Mrs Churchill told the jury there was no reasonable possibility that Mrs Hamka died of a drug overdose, but that Loughnane fatally attacked her with murderous intent.

The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon and took less than two days to reach a guilty verdict Friday.

The jury heard that Loughnane sent Ms Hamka a series of threatening messages in the run-up to her death.

The messages included: “I’m going to split your skull,” “I’m going to jail to watch you make your dog suffer,” “you’re dead,” and “wait until I get my hands on your dog.” , said Mrs. Churchill.

Loughnane also chased Ms Hamka into a car in 2021, followed her to her family home and threatened her friends, Ms Churchill said.

The last time her mother saw Ms Hamka was on April 9, 2021, when Loughnane shouted at her to get into a car before leaving with her alleged killer, the prosecutor said.

Ms Hamka was seen on CCTV at a Brunswick Woolworths the following day before she was last seen alive in a “confronting” video filmed by Loughnane in which she was half-naked and he mocked her, Ms Churchill said.

A friend of Loughnane later saw Ms Hamka dead in the fetal position in the shower of his Brighton home, the prosecution alleged.

Mrs Churchill accused Loughnane of covering up Mrs Hamka’s murder, alleging he sent her several messages after her death, enlisted the help of a friend to buy a steam cleaner on Gumtree and disposed of her body in dense undergrowth.

Several days after Ms Hamka’s death, police found a significant quantity of cleaning products in Loughnane’s home.

Nearly two years later – in May 2023 – they received information from Loughnane’s lawyers about the location of Ms Hamka’s body, the prosecutor said.

Officers later found Ms Hamka’s bones in dense bushland near Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula.

The court heard that the morning after the murder, Loughnane asked a friend, Oscar Newman, for help.

Mr Newman told the jury he was able to get himself in with a key and no one opened the door.

Once inside, he found Ms. Hamka naked and unconscious in the shower.

“Before he turned he noticed that her face was swollen and her skin was yellowish in colour. The Crown case is that Maryam Hamka was clearly dead at that time,” Mrs Churchill told the jury.

Mr Newman claimed Ms Hamka was unresponsive and later discovered Loughnane had passed out in another bedroom.

“It looked like he had taken too much GHB,” he said.

Mr Newman was unable to wake his friend but returned the next day, where Loughnane claimed Ms Hamka had taken an overdose and died.

Loughnane will be heard before sentencing at a later date.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14