Ice addict burglar Harley Hicks guilty of baby Zayden Veal-Whitting’s brutal murder

CASEY Veal has claimed justice for her murdered baby boy after a burglar named Harley Hicks was found guilty of murdering him as he lay helpless in his cot.

CASEY Veal claimed justice for her murdered baby boy.

A burglar named Harley Hicks was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of murdering 10-month-old Zayden Veal-Whitting as he lay helpless in his cot.

“I haven’t any words to describe how I’m feeling after hearing ‘Guilty’,” Casey told the Herald Sun.

But words stamped proudly across her Facebook page said it all.

They read: “I stood strong. I got justice for my son, Zayden.”

NO ANSWERS TO WHY THIEF KILLED ZAYDEN

BABY KILLER TRIED TO BLAME TWIN

After five days of deliberations following a five-week trial, the jury found an ice-addled Hicks, 20, broke into the family’s Long Gully home early in the morning of June 15, 2012, and bashed the helpless infant 25 times to the head with a homemade copper wire baton.

Hicks, who was employed as a painter and decorator, had smoked ice, cannabis and drunk alcohol before stalking the streets in the fatal spree.

Ms Veal sat calmly as the jury in the Bendigo court convicted Hicks of murder, aggravated burglary and theft.

Of Hicks, she says: “He destroyed everything I knew, and then some. I am glad to now focus on the future in memory of Zayden - living his memory through myself and Xavier.’’

Casey Veal with elder son Xavier and a photo of Zayden.

“I gave my evidence and he tried to stare me down. So I stared at him, and he put his head down,” she said.

“I won’t ever, ever put my head down to him. He beat my innocent child, who couldn’t defend himself.”

Ms Veal said the guilty verdict now allows her to claim justice for Zayden.

“I can speak out for him,” she said.

The guilty verdict followed a 34-day trial in which 36 witnesses gave evidence.

Crown prosecutor Michele Williams, SC, said DNA linked Hicks directly to the crime.

She said she couldn’t say why Hicks beat Zayden to death but suggested the helpless infant may have stirred in his sleep.

Convicted killer Harley Hicks.

Ms Veal had broken down and had to leave the witness box as she described finding her son.

She said she walked into Zayden’s bedroom to find him lying oddly, a blanket pulled over his face and his teddy bear missing.

“When I pulled it (the cover) back, I just saw that there was blood everywhere and that his face was swollen and bruised, and he was unresponsive,” Ms Veal told the court.

Hicks, who repeatedly offered his DNA to police, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Relatives including his mother and twin brother gasped and cried at the verdict.

The killer sat in the dock, his head buried in his hands.

Hicks’s mother also narrowly avoided contempt charges after she posted a photo of her son in court on her Facebook page.

Hicks told his family he loved them as he was led into custody.

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