A man has pleaded guilty to the murder of 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg of Victoria, Australia, who he also indecently assaulted after spending hours drinking and smoking with her mother.

Young Zoe ButtigiegYoung Zoe Buttigieg

The girl was killed on October 25, 2015 and had been found by her mother as soon as she woke up at 11am, four hours after going to bed.

Janelle Saunders, the mother, told had told a court in May that she and Bowe Maddigan, 30, had been drinking and smoking until about 7am on the morning Zoe was murdered.

The court had also heard that Maddigan had vanished early in the morning after vomiting in the backyard of the Wangaratta house in north-east Victoria.

Maddigan had been released from prison a week before the murder.

Last May, he pleaded not guilty but changed his plea on Friday.

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