How police closed net on murder suspects

The moment Maryam Hamka failed to return from a supermarket trip police feared the worst. Here’s how they closed in on their prime suspects.

Maryam Hamka was allegedly killed by her boyfriend Toby Loughnane at his Brighton home.

Toby Loughnane and Oscar Newman hardly have the typical backgrounds of mates you’d expect to find in a maximum security jail.

Born 15 years apart, both went to an exclusive bayside private school and had, from all accounts, the kind of solid family support that gives such a big start in life.

But their “born on third base” opportunities mean little today as they find themselves locked up, entangled in an investigation into the suspected murder of Brunswick woman Maryam Hamka.

Mr Loughnane, 41, is charged with fatally assaulting Ms Hamka, his girlfriend, at his Brighton home in April this year.

Mr Newman, a 26-year-old gambling-addicted pool cleaner whose mum still does his laundry, was arrested this week and stands accused of helping his mate with the cover-up, supplying materials and working to clean the crime scene in the days after her death.

Toby Loughnane has been charged with fatally assaulting Ms Hamka.

Investigators are most likely hoping he will use his first spell in custody to think carefully about his short-term options and the potentially long jail term he faces if convicted.

They have been unable to find 36-year-old Ms Hamka’s body despite an exhaustive inquiry into what happened after she walked from Woolworths in Brunswick on April 10 this year.

A court this week heard that missing persons squad detectives believe Mr Newman — who is charged with assisting an offender (murder) — has the answers to the body puzzle.

It will be alleged he has wiped evidence from his mobile phone and has been untruthful with detectives.

“There’s one person who definitely knows where it is, and there’s a high probability that a second person knows and that’s Mr Newman,” Detective Senior Constable Jason Stewart told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

On April 11, the day police believe Ms Hamka was murdered, Mr Newman is alleged to have arrived at Mr Loughnane’s property in a leased red Mazda 3 sedan.

He had previously pawned Mr Loughnane’s Holden Maloo ute for $45,000 to pay off punting debts.

Police say Mr Loughnane had asked him to visit but only stayed five minutes, before returning the next day for five hours.

There were a number of other visits by Mr Newman which, police say, were caught on CCTV and would have been made while Ms Hamka’s body was still there.

Ultimately, it is alleged Mr Newman attended the property nine times in five days and, on

Oscar Newman is accused of helping Loughnane cover-up Ms Hamka’s alleged murder. Source: 7news

April 15, that he turned up with a Karcher steam-cleaner bought on Gumtree, detergent and a tin of petrol.

“He stayed the night at the premises where he assisted Loughnane cleaning the crime scene using the cleaners, bleach and the Karcher that he had obtained,” Senior Constable Stewart said.

“It’s being alleged Newman committed these acts to impede the prosecution in relation to the substantive serious indictable offence of murder.”

Investigators believe the Mazda was used by Mr Loughnane to remove the body of Ms Hamka when he left the property for almost two hours in the early morning.

Her blood was allegedly found in the car.

Mr Newman would later tell police that he was at work on April 12 but forgot to “clock on”, testimony described as a lie by Senior Constable Stewart.

“He was at the address of Mr Loughnane for approximately five hours on that day.”

Police opposed bail by arguing Mr Newman could interfere with Ms Hamka’s remains or take other steps “to forever impede the prosecution and the conviction of Mr Loughnane”.

Mr Newman’s mother HyeonJoo Newman tried to have her son released by offering a $5000 surety, which she says was almost half of her life savings.

She said he could stay with her at her Melbourne apartment and promised to call police if he stepped out of line on bail.

Ms Newman said her son gambled at the TAB, and that she had unsuccessfully tried to help him with his addiction.

Magistrate Andrew McKenna ultimately rejected bail, saying there was a strong circumstantial case for an offence carrying a maximum 20-year prison term.

“The concealment of the body of Hamka is a serious matter indeed,” Mr McKenna said.

“Often failure to find a body can impede to the point of disabling a prosecution from even commencing. Although that seems not to be the case here.”

The arrests of Mr Loughnane and Mr Newman were a relief for the family of Ms Hamka, but they remain desperate to find her body.

Her brother Ayman told the Herald Sun it was a relief that two men were behind bars for their alleged involvement in her murder, but it was not enough.

Mr Hamka pleaded for Maryam’s remains to be returned on behalf of his family.

“We just want to know where her body is, for the family,” her brother Ayman told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“I have lost my sister and for what? I can’t figure out the reason, it was pointless. A lot of lives have been affected.

“Hopefully those involved can be put away and they can pay for what they have done.”

Allegations aired in court about what had happened after his sister had been murdered had been difficult to endure for the family.

“I don’t like to think about what was done, it hurts. Thinking about my sister’s last moments really hurts. Those involved are cowards.”