19-year-old charged with murder over Cervantes death
A teenager has been remanded in custody after appearing in the Perth magistrates court accused of murdering a man whose remains were found in a burnt-out car. The accused man was arrested at the time but only charged with murder after a weeklong police investigation.
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00:00 The human remains were discovered in a burnt out four-wheel drive near the coastal town
00:06 of Cervantes, about 200 kilometres north of Perth, in the early hours of Tuesday morning
00:12 last week.
00:13 Later, a second vehicle was found floating in the ocean near the town's jetty, while
00:17 19-year-old Benjamin Jack McLachlan was discovered by fishermen naked on a cray boat that was
00:23 drifting in the ocean.
00:25 He was arrested and initially charged with the unusual offence of casting away ships.
00:30 He was granted bail as the police investigation continued, but overnight was taken back into
00:35 custody and charged with the murder of a 38-year-old man.
00:39 "Look, he's distraught.
00:41 I had a long discussion with him last night when he was in the custody of officers.
00:46 Naturally, it's come as a huge shock to him."
00:48 In a statement, police said it would be alleged an incident occurred after the deceased man
00:53 came across Mr McLachlan's crashed four-wheel drive on Indian Ocean Drive.
00:58 It's then alleged he set fire to the four-wheel drive, which belonged to one of his relatives,
01:02 before he stole the deceased man's car.
01:05 It ended up in the ocean.
01:07 In court, Mr McLachlan was not required to plead to any of the charges against him and
01:11 he was remanded in custody until he faces court again later this month.
01:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]