Harley Hicks was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of the 2012 murder of 10-month-old Zayden Veal-Whitting, a case that drew widespread attention across Australia because of the victim’s young age and the violent nature of the crime.
On June 13, 2014, the Supreme Court of Victoria in Bendigo sentenced Hicks to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years. The sentence followed a jury verdict delivered in April 2014 that found the then-21-year-old guilty of murdering the infant.
During the trial, prosecutors told the court that Hicks unlawfully entered the Veal-Whitting family home in Long Gully, near Bendigo, during the early hours of the morning in 2012. While inside the residence, he fatally assaulted 10-month-old Zayden as the child slept in his cot. Evidence presented in court showed the infant sustained multiple fatal injuries during the attack.
In sentencing Hicks, Justice Stephen Kaye described the murder as falling within the most serious category of homicide. The judge said the infant had been attacked in the safety of his own home, a place where every child should be protected, and concluded that the severity of the crime justified the harshest sentence available under Victorian law.
Justice Kaye emphasized that the circumstances of the case warranted a life sentence with a lengthy non-parole period, reflecting both the gravity of the offense and the need for punishment, community protection, and deterrence. The court found that the brutality of the attack and the extreme vulnerability of the victim were significant aggravating factors in determining the sentence.
The murder of Zayden Veal-Whitting remains one of Australia’s most heartbreaking criminal cases, remembered for the profound loss suffered by his family and the devastating impact the crime had on the wider community.
