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VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS:
Zayden's mother tells of her heartache: Casey Veal's victim impact statement read by Crown prosecutor Michele Williams in the Supreme Court.
Zayden's father tells of his pain: James Whitting's victim impact statement read in the Supreme Court.
Zayden's grandparents share their heartache in a statement read in the Supreme Court.
THE family of murdered baby Zayden Veal-Whitting will put their faith in the justice system and hope an application by their son's killer to have his sentence reduced will be dismissed.
The Supreme Court of Victoria, Court of Appeal will decide on Wednesday whether to grant Harley Hicks leave to appeal sentence.
Hicks was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years for the brutal murder of the 10-month-old, whom he bludgeoned to death with a homemade baton whilst committing a number of burglaries overnight on June 14/15, 2012.
He is appealing the 32 year non-parole period set down by sentencing justice, Stephen Kaye.
In sentencing, Justice Kaye said the killing was “totally and utterly evil’’ and Hicks' offending put his case "in the worst category of offences of murder which come before the courts''.
"You have committed an appallingly violent and callous murder of an innocent, helpless ten-month-old infant,'' he said. "All human life is sacrosanct, and the law does not differentiate between the life of one human being and another. However, the life of a baby is particularly special and precious.
"At the time of his death, Zayden was on the threshold of childhood, with the future before him. He was in the safety of his own home, secure in his own cot. He was, as any infant of that age would be, utterly harmless, defenceless and helpless.
"Any human being, with even a shred of decency and humanity, could only feel compassion, tenderness and protectiveness towards an infant in those circumstances.
"By contrast, you inflicted a brutal bashing, with a lethal instrument, on that baby. You crushed his skull, and savagely beat him with at least 30 blows. It is almost unthinkable that any human being could have carried out the sickening crime that you have committed. What you did was totally and utterly evil.''
Zayden's father James Whitting and stepmother Michelle Kneebone yesterday said they were putting their "faith in the justice system and judges as Zayden is completely denied a chance to grow up into adulthood and experience all that he could''.
"For Hicks to appeal due to his age is extremely hurtful and as for his background, there are plenty of people worse off than his upbringing but they are not out there committing crimes. His excuses/or reasons are insignificant compared to what he has done to our family''.
Zayden's mother, Casey Veal, also called for the appeal to be dismissed, and the sentence handed down to her son’s killer to be used as a deterrent to others.
"Young people need to understand that if you do things like this, there are consequences - here's what will happen,'' she said.
"But not matter what happens today, it's not going to make a difference to us, no matter what, it's not going to bring Zayden back.''