Davies, who has been jailed for life, pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Maybury, 6, on Melbourne Cup day in 1984

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man who raped and killed the Melbourne schoolgirl Kylie Maybury has been jailed for life, more than three decades after the crime.

Gregory Keith Davies, 75, pleaded guilty in November to raping and murdering the six-year-old girl on Melbourne Cup day in 1984, ending a long-running mystery over her death.

Supreme court justice Lex Lasry sentenced Davies to life behind bars on Thursday, setting a minimum term of 28 years.

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Kylie had walked 140m to the shops at suburban Preston East to buy sugar for her mother but never returned.

Her body was found face down in a gutter the following day, having been raped, drugged and suffocated by Davies.

“This girl did nothing except walk to a shop and, at six years old, she lost her life,” the judge said during sentencing. “You saw her and chose her at random. Your conduct was simply disgusting.

“Having committed these offences, you lied to police at the time and kept what you had done to yourself for 33 years.”

The killer was not identified until 2016 when Davies’s DNA was matched to semen on Kylie’s clothing and genitals.

Kylie Maybury’s mother, Julie, came face to face with Davies for the first time in June last year, as he appeared in the Melbourne magistrates court behind glass.