A cheer and round of applause rang out across Wangaratta Supreme Court on Monday when child killer Bowe Maddigan was sentenced to life in prison.
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The 31-year-old molested and murdered the 11-year-old girl when he went into her bedroom in the early hours of October 25 last year.
He will be eligible for parole after 28 years.
Justice Lex Lasry said the 16 victim impact statements from Zoe’s family, heard during last month’s plea hearing, showed their loss was “palpable”.
He said although Maddigan wrote a letter of apology to the family, his claim he did not remember – and could not explain what he did to the child – lessened the impact of his remorse.
“Why you did that is a tragic mystery; you have refused and continue to refuse to give an explanation,” he said.
“It seems almost trite to say your offending was serious. Words don’t mean much in a case like this.”
The court heard Maddigan did not have a mental illness, although his phone contained images of both adult and child pornography and he had issues with drugs and alcohol.
He had not been invited to the party at the Inchbold Street home that night, but messaged Joe Duke – the boyfriend of Zoe’s mother Janelle Saunders – to ask to come along.
The trio drank and smoked cannabis during the night before Maddigan fell asleep in the laundry.
It was after 4am when he woke up, crept into the girl’s room and told her to come down from her bunk bed.
He told police he wanted to “have her all to myself” and described her as looking ‘like an angel”.
“You were a guest in the home of the mother of that child, where she was entitled to feel safe,” Justice Lasry said.
“The method of killing was violent and face-to-face.
“It would not have occurred quickly.”
He said he gave “anxious consideration” to the possibility of a life sentence and although he could not say the sexual assault and murder were planned offences, he could not look past the fact Maddigan maintained he had no memory of what happened.
“I have significant reservations about your offending and subsequent remorse,” Justice Lasry said.