Elderly man admits to 33-year-old Kylie Maybury murder
Kylie Maybury's body was found in a gutter in Preston in November, 1984. Photo: ABC
Victorian man Gregory Keith Davies, 74, has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of six-year-old Kylie Maybury, who was taken from a Preston street on Melbourne Cup day in 1984.
The girl was last seen walking home after visiting a shop in East Preston, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, to buy sugar.
Her body was found in a gutter the following day in Donald Street, a kilometre from where she was taken.
The court has previously been told she was suffocated.
Davies, from Waterford Park, north of Melbourne, entered the guilty plea on the first day of a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Outside court, Kylie’s mother, Julie Maybury, said she was glad the court process would be over soon and “we all can live our lives again”.
Ms Maybury said the guilty plea was an unexpected relief.
“I’m just so totally over the moon that he’s done it [pleaded guilty]. It’s just made life so much easier,” Ms Maybury said.
“We don’t have to look in the dark again. The dark is nearly over.
“It’s been 33 years and we’ve been through hell.”
Julie Maybury, Kylie’s mother, says she has “been through hell”.
Davies was charged in June last year. At the time, police said they would allege he raped and held the girl before killing her the following day.
After Davies’ arrest, Detective Inspector Mick Hughes said Kylie’s mother had “been a pillar of strength” in the years following her daughter’s death.
“A child should be allowed to go to the street and buy a packet of sugar and go home safely, unfortunately this little girl didn’t,” he said.
Before Davies’ arrest, police had offered a reward of up to $1 million, and appealed to anonymous callers who contact police in 1984 and 1997 to get back in touch.