Toby Loughnane found guilty in Victorian Supreme Court

“Maryam’s loss has devastated me. I visit her grave daily. No parent should have to bury a child.

“She was full of love and had so much love and joy for everyone and everything. She made me a mother.”

Ayman Hamka told the court his sister was his best friend, and she had been taken from the family due to senseless violence.

“The simple joys we once shared together … are replaced with extreme emptiness that cannot be filled,” he said.

“I always ask myself the same question, why would a human being put someone through so much pain and misery?

“I miss her every moment of every day. I will always and forever love you my dearest Maryam.”

Hamka was last seen alive on CCTV leaving a Brunswick Woolworths store on April 10, 2021. Her family reported her missing five days later.

On Friday, Crown prosector Kristie Churchill said the pair had been in a brief romantic relationship, characterised by control, violence and abuse.

Loughnane violently assaulted Hamka at his Brighton home then sought to cover up his involvement in her murder using “extreme and drastic measures”.

“In a drug-fuelled fit of rage, he caused her a violent death,” Churchill said.

“Motivated by self-preservation, he’s driven to a remote location and ultimately buried her, then sought to deflect blame.

“He’d been an abusive and violent partner to other females in the past. A repeat perpetrator of domestic violence.”

She said prosecutors were calling for a substantial sentence but not life in jail.

Loughnane had offered to plead guilty to negligent manslaughter, which prosecutors rejected.

Instead, he pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming Hamka died from a drug overdose and that he panicked and disposed of her body. He also claimed her skull fractures were caused when dragging her body through the bush, and not during a violent assault.

Defence barrister Daniel Sala said his client, a former construction worker, grew up in a loving and supportive home but that when his father died when Loughnane was aged 12, he descended into drug use.

Methamphetamine became an entrenched part of his life until Hamka’s death.

Loughnane will be sentenced next month.

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.