A man who scammed the grieving family of Clunes woman Hannah McGuire out of many thousands of dollars in community GoFundMe donations following her alleged murder has avoided a jail term after appearing before the Ballarat Magistrate’s Court earlier this week.

Appearing before the court last Tuesday after pleading guilty to theft, Lachlan Morganti, 26, has been placed on a two-year community corrections order.

The court has heard that Morganti had been heavily drinking on the night he transferred more than $64,000 into his bank account from an online GoFundMe fundraiser that he had established following the alleged murder of Ms McGuire on April 5.

Morganti knew the family through the Clunes cricket and football clubs, and from Clunes’ local pub, the National Hotel, which Ms McGuire’s family runs, and he had established the GoFundMe fundraiser in order to help her grief-stricken family with funeral expenses and paying for a holiday.

The court at Ballarat has heard Morganti was afflicted by a severe gambling addiction when he took the GoFundMe money – having previous taken $10,000 from his own superannuation in a bid to fund his addiction.

After all the money was spent, the 26-year-old had confessed to Ms McGuire’s family who had reported him to the police.

Now left to serve out his community corrections order, Morganti had since registered with Bet Stop, a national gambling self-exclusion register, the court in Ballarat has heard.

Ballarat man Lachlan Young is to face a Supreme Court trial for the alleged murder of Clunes woman Hannah McGuire, after pleading not guilty and electing to have his case fast-tracked.

Young, 21, appeared via video link at the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court earlier today (Thursday September 19) and formally pleaded not guilty to the murder of the 23-year-old whose body was found in a burnt-out car in Scarsdale near Ballarat, on April 5.

An estimated 50 supporters of the Clunes woman attended today’s hearing, wearing shirts emblazoned with her image and the words “she matters”.

Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz told the court Young had chosen to fast-track his case to the Supreme Court, meaning he will not face a committal hearing in the lower court.

“Mr Young has elected to stand trial,” Magistrate Mykytowycz said.

“The effect of this is that his matter will now be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court.

Young will now be required to face the Supreme Court for a directions hearing on October 3.