Not a day goes by that murdered 11-year-old Zoe Louise Buttigieg is not missed.
"Every day is filled with emptiness," Janelle Saunders said after the man who violated and killed her only child for no explained reason was jailed for life.
She attended the sentencing in a "Justice for Zoe" T-shirt 14 months after her daughter was murdered by a relative stranger who sneaked into Zoe's bedroom late at night.
"There are so many things my little girl will never get to do," Ms Saunders said in a statement read out on her behalf.
It was about 11am on October 25 last year when Ms Saunders - who had been unable to rouse her daughter - went into Zoe's room to discover her lifeless body.
She drew back the bed covers and saw Zoe's pants had been removed.
There was a gold ring in her mouth.
Ms Saunders heard screams and wails - then realised it was her own voice.
The killer, Bowe Evan Levi Maddigan, 31, had already been picked up by police, dazed and with self-inflicted injuries, wandering along the Hume Highway.
He later told them Zoe had looked angelic and he wanted her to himself.
He had spent the night of the murder drinking and smoking cannabis at Ms Saunders' Wangaratta house with her partner Joe Duke and others.
He eventually fell asleep around 3.45am then, some time later, awoke and began to prowl around the house.
He went into Zoe's bedroom where he indecently assaulted her then strangled her with his bare hands.
He had been released from prison for breaching his parole only 19 days earlier.
In August, Maddigan pleaded guilty to murdering Zoe and to a charge of committing an indecent act on a child under 16.
Friends and relatives dressed in purple - Zoe's favourite colour - stood and faced Maddigan as he was brought into the dock to be sentenced on Monday.
They cheered when the maximum life term was imposed.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry said he had given the sentence "anxious consideration".
Ultimately he found the indecent assault and murder of a child in her own bed warranted a term of life imprisonment, despite Maddigan pleading guilty to both charges.
Zoe was entitled to feel safe in her home, Justice Lasry said.
"It is almost trite to say your offending was extremely serious," he said.
"It might not have been a prolonged or frenzied attack ... But the fact you murdered her is gratuitous."
An analysis of Maddigan's phone revealed child exploitation material and a history of searches for ballerinas and contortionists aged between 10 and 12 years.
He has said he is eternally sorry for what he did, but has given no explanation for why he did it.
Maddigan will be eligible for parole after serving 28 years.
