The man accused of raping and murdering Zoe Buttigieg was smoking bongs with her mother in the hours before the 11-year-old girl’s death.

Bowe Maddigan, 29, of Mildura, faced Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to contest charges on the first of a three-day committal hearing.

Prosecutor Kieran Gilligan proceeded with the murder charge and amended one of two sexual assault charges to sexual penetration after an analysis of DNA evidence.

The court heard Maddigan would use the defence he was mentally impaired.

Zoe was found dead in her Inchbold Street home in Wangaratta on the morning of October 24, following a gathering full of drugs and alcohol.

Her mother, Janelle Saunders, told the court Maddigan disappeared between 4am and 5am after vomiting in the backyard.

He told Ms Saunders’ partner, Joe Duke, he felt sick, but while Mr Duke fetched him a blanket, Maddigan left without his shoes and socks.

The accused had been sleeping on the laundry, while Zoe was asleep in the lounge room.

Earlier in the night, Maddigan was the life of the party.

Ms Saunders said she only met the man weeks earlier and found he enjoyed the limelight when talking about his past and poetry.

“He was full of stories and he was just rambling and rambling and you couldn't get a word in,” she said.

“He was very attention-seeking.

“He wanted everyone to listen to him – he talked a lot with his hands, he was very hypo.”

The mother even smoked bongs with Maddigan in the laundry.

She told police Maddigan could switch from having a dig at her one moment, then happy again the next.

“Bowe is a bit unusual - very articulate and deep,” Ms Saunders said in her statement.

Mr Duke said he had picked up Maddigan to take him to Inchbold Street that night about 10.30pm and the man had not shown any signs of aggression.

“He had some funny stories to tell, he made us laugh,” he said.

Maddigan sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom in a white collared shirt, with his hair pulled back in a bun and light stubble on his face.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt would not allow written evidence in witness statements, which had not been read out in court, to be reported by media.

“There is a risk of prejudice of any future hearing if the matter is reported in any great detail,” he said.

“The crime with which the accused is charged is the most serious in the statute books and, in this case, it is a particularly serious and appalling example of the crime of homicide.”

The hearing continues.

- The Border Mail