When Maryam Hamka’s friends and family couldn’t get hold of her, they were very concerned. They’d been worried about her for months and were scared their worst fears had been realised when she went missing
Maryam Hamka, 36, had been in a relationship with a man they disliked for about a year. Toby Loughnane, who lived in the suburb of Brighton in Melbourne, Australia, had served time in prison for violence, as well as dangerous driving and drug offences.
Maryam’s loved ones had seen her with bruises and believed Loughnane was physically assaulting her. Witnesses had seen him shouting and throwing objects at her. One time, Loughnane followed her with his car, then into her family’s home and threatened her friends.
A week before her disappearance, Maryam’s mum, Susan Iramiyan, had witnessed Loughnane screaming at her daughter to get into his car – which she did, despite how aggressive he was being. That was the last time she saw Maryam.
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Maryam went missing in April 2021. She was seen on surveillance footage shopping in Woolworths at 5.30pm on 10 April, but messages after that were limited – then they stopped completely. The police started to look at those close to her. Loughnane was an obvious start. Officers went to his flat and asked if he knew where Maryam was. There, they noted a strong smell of cleaning products coming from the property.
Investigators started to delve further into Maryam’s life. They knew she had been at Loughnane’s home on 10 April. When they spoke to Loughnane’s neighbours, they said they had heard screaming and crying in the early hours of 11 April that eventually stopped at 3am. Maryam had sent friends messages after 4am – but had she really? Or had someone else sent them, pretending to be her?
There were even more disturbing revelations on Maryam’s phone records. Loughnane had been sending violent and threatening messages to her for months. One read, “I’m going to split your skull.” Another said, “Wait until I get my hands on you, dog.” He even said he’d go to jail just to see her suffer and wanted to make her scream in agony.
He threatened to drown her, set her on fire and slice her face off. “I will beat you beyond recognition, within two inches of your life,” he wrote. “I’m going to cut your f*****g head off. You better hope the cops come, for your sake. I’m going to literally kill you.” The messages were full of hate for Maryam and now there was no sign of her.
What the friend saw
At the end of August, investigators determined it was most likely that Maryam was dead – and Loughnane had killed her. He was arrested and charged with her murder. But he continued to deny it and refused to say what had happened.
Then, after two agonising years for Maryam’s family, who always held out hope that maybe she was alive, a man called Oscar Newman came forward in 2023 and implicated Loughnane in her killing. Newman said Loughnane had called him for help after Maryam had died.
Finally, Loughnane revealed where Maryam was – and his version of what had happened. In August 2023, he led the police to a shallow grave at Cape Schanck, southeast of Melbourne. There, they found Maryam’s remains. Loughnane claimed Maryam had died from a drug overdose in the early hours of 11 April, 2021 at his home. He said he’d panicked and got rid of her body rather than call an ambulance.
His lawyers said he would plead guilty to a lesser charge of negligent manslaughter. However, an examination of Maryam’s skeletal remains showed she had several fractures of the skull and jaw. It wasn’t possible to determine the cause of death, but it was determined to be foul play. Prosecutors rejected the manslaughter plea offer and said the case needed to go to trial.
In 2024, Loughnane faced a jury and there was a three-week trial. His defence said his only crime was not calling an ambulance. Instead, Loughnane had put Maryam’s body in the boot of his friend’s car and buried her in a shallow grave 50 miles away.
The prosecution said it was murder and shared details of the long campaign of violence that he’d inflicted on Maryam. The court heard that on the night of 10 April, 2021, Loughnane had filmed and mocked Maryam as she was partially naked and possibly under the influence of drugs. The video was deeply disturbing.
The next day, Loughnane called his friend Newman, who is now facing charges of assisting Loughnane. Arriving at the flat, Newman alleges he saw bloody footprints then saw Maryam, slumped unconscious in the shower with a swollen face. Loughnane told Newman Maryam had overdosed and was dead. When Newman suggested getting help, Loughnane had told him, “I’ll get done for manslaughter.”
Over the next few days, with Maryam’s naked body in the bath, Loughnane had cleaned the flat with bleach. Then he dumped Maryam’s body, using Newman’s car, in the bushland on 14 April. He sent texts from, and to, Maryam’s phone to keep up the pretence that she was alive.
The prosecution said Loughnane had been controlling, abusive and violent towards Maryam and he’d killed her in a drug-fuelled attack with “murderous intent”. The jury found Loughnane guilty of murdering Maryam.
At the pre-sentencing hearing, victim impact statements were read out on behalf of Maryam’s family. Her brother, Ayman Hamka, said the murder had shattered their family. “Why would a human being put someone through so much pain, misery and take their precious life?” he’d written. “The loss of my sister has left a gaping hole in my heart that will never fully heal.”
Haunted by suffering
Maryam’s mum visits her daughter’s grave every day and is haunted by the thought of her screaming for help. “No parent should ever have to bury their child,” she said in her statement. “Every day, I think about the pain and suffering my daughter went through and it shatters my heart all over again.”
Loughnane’s family said he’d never recovered from his father’s death when he was a child and had been drinking and taking drugs since he was a teenager. They said he deserved leniency.
In February this year, Loughnane, 45, was sentenced. The judge said he didn’t believe Loughnane was remorseful. He had only revealed the location of Maryam’s body after Newman had come forward. That delay had tortured her family for more than two years.
Loughnane was sentenced to 28 years, with a chance of parole after 20 years. “The fatal violence you inflicted on her was not an isolated incident,” the judge said, rejecting the narrative that Maryam had died from an overdose.