Vic baby killer 'should get life in jail'

Prosecutors say the savage murder of a baby by a Victorian burglar demands a life sentence. Source: AAP

A VICTORIAN man who murdered a 10-month-old baby while committing a burglary should get life in jail for the "evil killing", prosecutors say.

Harley Hicks, 21, of North Bendigo, bashed baby Zayden Veal-Whitting more than 30 times about the face and head with a home-made baton made of copper wire wrapped in tape.

Prosecutor Michelle Williams SC said baby Zayden must have been disturbed by Hicks but posed no real threat to him.

"We consider what he did was an extreme, extreme way to respond to any thought of self-preservation, to react in such a violent way," she told the Victorian Supreme Court, sitting in Bendigo, on Monday.

"It almost has no explanation."

Zayden's mother Casey Veal said she and her older son Xavier would never recover.

"I may stand before you alive and breathing but I'm but a shadow of my former self," she wrote in a victim impact statement read to the court.

"This also has denied Xavier the mother he once knew.

"We both died that day. Xavier lost not only his brother but his true mother."

Ms Williams told Justice Stephen Kaye the prosecution wanted a life sentence with a non-parole period.

"I will repeat that it is an evil killing without any rational explanation, so we will maintain our submission for a life sentence, however we say that it is appropriate for your honour to apply a minimum sentence."

She said a minimum term is consistent with sentences involving the murder of children including that of Robert Farquharson, who drowned his three sons in a car on Father's Day in 2005.

Defence barrister David Gallowes agreed with the gravity of Hicks' crime but said his client's consumption of alcohol, marijuana and ice before it might have contributed to its ferocity.

"There is some prospect of rehabilitation even if the prognosis is poor," Mr Gallowes said.

Ms Williams said Hicks had an extensive criminal record, with nine court appearances before his murder trial dating back to 2007 for crimes including wilful damage, thefts and burglaries.

She said Hicks breached almost all of the orders, including good behaviour bonds and community corrections orders, given to him.

Mr Gallowes said Hicks' parents separated when he was eight and neither offered an appropriate home environment.

Hicks drifted into drug and alcohol abuse and was sexually abused as a teenager, the court heard.

A psychological exam found Hicks had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a conduct disorder and an anti-social personality disorder.

Hicks was found guilty of murder, aggravated burglary and two counts of theft amid a robbery spree in the Bendigo suburb of Long Gully early on June 15, 2012.

Hicks will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

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