Young Zoe’s evil killer who murdered her in her bedroom is jailed for life
THE evil killer who murdered 11-year-old schoolgirl Zoe Buttigieg has been jailed for life for an act the judge described as “vile” and senseless.
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THE evil killer who murdered schoolgirl Zoe Buttigieg has been jailed for life.
The 11-year-old’s family had called for a life sentence for Bowe Maddigan, with Supreme Court justice Lex Lasry today handing down the maximum penalty for the senseless killing.
“Why you did (it) is a tragic mystery. You have refused and continued to refuse to give any explanation for your actions,” he told Maddigan today.
“The method of killing was vile and occurred face-to-face. It followed a sexual assault.”
Zoe was sexually assaulted and murdered in the bedroom of her Wangaratta home by Maddigan just three weeks after he was released from a stint behind bars.
Maddigan, 31, found her as she lay sleeping in her bed on October 25 last year.
After finding her bedroom he woke her, then turned the light off and closed the door to avoid detection.
Maddigan later told police she looked “like an angel” and that he wanted her “all to himself”.
He sexually assaulted her, then strangled her by hand.
It is not alleged Zoe was raped.
Maddigan placed Zoe back in her bed, covered her with a doona then left the home.
“Words in themselves are inadequate in a case like this,” Justice Lasry said.
“The fact that you killed her is incomprehensible.”
Maddigan had been at Zoe’s house, drinking and taking drugs, in the hours before the killing.
He had been left alone after smoking some cannabis when he prowled the hallway of the home about 1.30am.
Zoe was found in her bed by her mother later that morning.
“Her eyes were closed and she was still. I didn’t know what to think but I knew something was wrong,” Janelles Saunders told an earlier hearing.
“I started to vomit and I felt like I was spinning completely out of control. I started screaming because I didn’t know what was wrong with Zoe.
“I heard screams and wails and then I realised it was me.
“Life as I know it has finished for me.”
Maddigan pleaded guilty to a charge of murder, and one of committing an indecent act with a child aged under 16.
The guilty plea must be taken into account as a sentencing consideration as evidence of genuine remorse.
But Justice Lasry said Maddigan’s remorse was questionable because he had failed to give any explanation for the killing.
He said he was not confident Maddigan would change his ways.
Maddigan’s lawyer Tim Marsh had argued it was not open to Justice Lasry to impose a life sentence, but that submission was rejected.
Maddigan must serve a non-parole period of 28 years.