Man Who Repeatedly Threatened to Kill Girlfriend in 'Appalling' Texts Read in Court Sentenced

Toby Loughnane, 45, had offered to plead guilty to a lesser charge of negligent manslaughter for failing to take Maryam Hamka, 37, to a hospital, but this offer was rejected. Ultimately, after being faced with a slew of evidence, a jury found him guilty of murder in June.

On Friday, Loughnane was sentenced to 28 years in prison, as reported by ABC (Australian Broadcast Company), of which he must serve at least 20 years before he will be eligible to apply for parole.

Among the evidence shared in court were a series of violently disturbing text messages Loughnane allegedly sent to Hamka in the months leading up to her death, with many of them expressing graphic threats to murder her.

Additionally, on April 10, the night before her death, Loughnane reportedly filmed Hamka while she was impacted by drug usage and partially undressed. The jury was also told that neighbors reported hearing her screaming and sobbing until approximately 3 a.m. on April 11.

Prosecutors told Victoria' Supreme Court on Friday that they believe that it was sometime around then that she died, per the New York Post.

After the night neighbors reported hearing Hamka's screams, a friend let himself into the apartment she shared with Loughnane. He told police, per ABC, that he found blood and both Loughnane and Hamka in the apartment.

He reportedly said that Loughnane was passed out on the bed from alleged drug use, while Hamka was sitting upright but unresponsive in the shower. She appeared to have a swollen face, according to the witness, who said that he left after neither responded to his efforts to rouse them.

The witness said he returned the following day, at which point he said Loughnane told him that Hamka had died from an overdose. He said that he asked Loughnane if he'd hit her, and then said they should call an ambulance, per the Post.

"I can't, I can't, I'll get done for manslaughter," Loughnane allegedly replied, according to the witness.

Instead, as reported by ABC at the time of his guilty verdict, the friend allegedly helped Loughnane in dealing with the aftermath of Hamka's death.

Loughnane allegedly bought bleach while the friend picked up a steam cleaner, after which they thoroughly cleaned the apartment. Loughnage also allegedly put Hamka's body in the trunk of his car, per the news outlet, before driving her 50 miles to Cape Schanck the Mornington Peninsula on April 15.

All the while, he purportedly was sending messages to her phone from his in an apparent effort to make it look as if he was unaware that she was dead, per the Post. He also allegedly sent texts to her friends from her phone, in a purported effort to make it appear she was still alive.

He was arrested just one day later, with responding officers reporting an "overpowering" scent of cleaning products in the apartment, as stated in court.

While he's been in custody ever since, it wasn't until May 2023 that he finally told investigators where they could find her body, per the Post, and it was another three months before her remains were ultimately found.

Justice Christopher Beale, who presided over Loughnane's sentencing, told the court that she had fractures to her right eye, nasal bones, and the right side of her jaw. Her body was in such a state that a cause of death could not be officially determined, though the fractures led prosecutors to suspect death, per ABC.

"His actions after her death are so extreme and disproportionate that they could not be remotely consistent with Maryam Hamka succumbing to an overdose," Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the jury before that guilty verdict in June.

"Your offense was not an isolated outburst of violence towards Ms Hamka," Beale told Loughnane in court, after breaking down a list of allegations of verbal and physical abuse.

Justice Beale detailed "appalling" phone messages that the court had heard, as well as a "torrent of highly abusive text messages," which included repeated threats of murder, with some offering graphic details.

Some of those messages, which were read aloud in court, included:

• "I will beat you beyond recognition, within two inches of your life"
• "I'm literally going to cut your f--king head off, you better hope the cops come for your sake"
• "I'm going to literally kill you"
• Allegedly said in one message he would make her "scream in agony"
• Allegedly texted her friends asking them to "tell Maryam she's dead"

Beale further said in court that Loughnane had threatened to kill Hamka by "shooting her, drowning her, setting her on fire and slicing her face off," as detailed by The Age.

A witness who was also a friend of Hamka, offered testimony to a lengthy period of alleged abuses the victim had suffered over a span of years. She detailed an incident on July 9, 2020, where she told the court Hamka came into the store she was working at with swollen eyes, lips, a bloody nose, and injuries to her wrists.

"Ms Hamka told [the witness] that her boyfriend had bashed her, put his fingers down her throat and a sock in her mouth: she said she thought she was going to die," Beale said in court on Friday.

Still another witness detailed an alleged incident where she said she saw Loughnane throw a phone charger and small ladder at Hamka in February 2021, before he "punched and kicked Ms Hamka in the face and back," per the Post.

Hamka's sister Hanna alleged that he showed up at their home with a knife on March 6, 2021, cornering Hamka in a bathroom before he locked the door. She said that her boyfriend ultimately broke down the door with a bat to rescue her sister.

"An important circumstance of your offense is that you murdered Ms Hamka in the context of long-term domestic violence: the fatal violence you inflicted on her on 11 April, 2021 was not an isolated incident," Beale insisted to Loughnane.

Loughnane's family attempted to offer an explanation for his alleged behaviors, telling the court that he never recovered from the death of his father when he was a child, according to ABC. They said he began to drink alcohol and take drugs as a teen, ultimately getting addicted to ICE and GHB.

They submitted character references, per the outlet, that said they believed he could benefit from rehab, while his brother said that he didn't believe Loughnane had killed Hamka, as Loughnane himself continues to maintain.

The Age also reports that Loughnane has an extensive criminal history, including for assault of other women, trafficking drugs, driving offenses, and defying court orders.

While Beale did take into account the fact that Loughnane did finally reveal where Hamka was buried, he said the two years it took for him to do so was torture for her family, according to ABC.

He also called it "callous" in court that Loughnane argued in a police interview that it was "disgraceful" her family was not helping to find her, considering he knew exactly where her remains were the whole time.

On top of that, Beale noted, Loughnane only came clean about where her body was when he'd heard that the friend who'd helped him clean up his apartment -- and lent him the car with which he disposed of Hamka's body -- had agreed to give evidence against him.

"I am not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that you are truly remorseful, as opposed to being sorry for yourself and those close to you who have had to bear the shame and disgrace of your actions," Beale argued to Loughnane.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.