The case against a Bendigo teenager accused of murdering Long Gully baby Zayden Veal-Whitting in June last year has been delayed.
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Harley Hicks, 19, was charged with murder in September last year while serving time in youth detention for burglaries and theft. He was booked for a committal mention in the Bendigo Magistrates Court today.
Hicks lawyer Sam Norton, who appeared on his behalf this morning, said there was a joint application to adjourn the matter because two “very significant reports” were missing from the prosecution brief, the pathologist report and DNA report.
“I’m instructed that by March 20 they will have been served to the defence,” he said.
Prosecutor Catherine Boston said DNA reports typically took six weeks and were usually only ordered when a committal had been booked in.
Magistrate William Gibb remanded Hicks to appear in the same court on March 20 for a further committal mention.
Police were called to Zayden's home in Eaglehawk Road, Long Gully, last year after a burglary was reported.
As police made their way to the house they received a further call to say Zayden had been taken to hospital. Zayden later died.
Hicks became the prime suspect in Zayden’s murder after forensic evidence cleared the boy’s parents of killing him.