The family of slain Zoe Buttigieg has spoken out about its devastation as Bowe Maddigan is sentenced for the rape and murder of the 11-year-old during a house party last October. "This has impacted our family so dramatically leaving us heartbroken and in such pain," Stacy Lee Buttigieg told news.com.au. Zoe's mother Janelle Saunders told the court in an impact statement that "life as I know it has finished for me". She could not comprehend how Maddigan could have "such utter contempt for life" that he would murder a girl like Zoe - a happy, loving and fun child. Outside the court, Matthew Carmody said Maddigan was "like a real life bogeyman, you became all her worst nightmares".

Source: New Zealand Herald November 11, 2016 20:21 UTC