Bowe Maddigan pleads guilty to rape, murder of Wangaratta schoolgirl Zoe Buttigieg.

A man has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Victoria’s north-east after previously denying the charge.

Bowe Maddigan, 30, of Mildura, was charged with committing an indecent act on, and murdering Zoe Buttigieg in her Wangaratta home in October last year.

Maddigan previously pleaded not guilty in Wangaratta Magistrates Court in May but changed it during a hearing in the Supreme Court in Melbourne.

A previous committal hearing was told Maddigan and the girl’s mother had taken part in a marathon drinking and cannabis-smoking session at her home with friends just hours before Zoe was found dead in her bedroom.

Police and paramedics also told that hearing how they found Maddigan after the party at 6:20am.

He had walked 10 kilometres in bare feet towards Melbourne, with blood splatter marks on one foot.

Police had initially believed Maddigan to be mentally unstable but psychologists later disagreed.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.

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