Harley Hicks jailed for life over bashing murder of Bendigo baby Zayden Veal-Whitting (ABC)

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Harley Hicks has been jailed for life for the bashing murder of 10-month-old Zayden Veal-Whitting during a burglary in Bendigo, Victoria in 2012.

The Supreme Court sentenced Hicks, 21, to a minimum of 32 years in jail for killing Veal-Whitting during a burglary in Long Gully, a suburb of Bendigo.

In April, a jury found Hicks guilty of murdering the child after breaking into his house in the middle of the night and using a homemade baton to bludgeon him more than 30 times.

In sentencing, Justice Stephen Kaye described the murder as "appallingly violent" and "utterly evil".

"This is the worst category of murder... The life of a baby is particularly special and precious... He was in the safety of his own home," Justice Kaye said.

"'It's almost unthinkable a human being could carry out the crime, what you did was utterly evil."

Justice Kaye said he had to impose the "most severe of sentences in which mercy plays no part".

"In this way," he said, "the most young and vulnerable members of community are protected".

The judge read from father James Whitting's impact statement, in which he described the time since his son's death as "the most difficult and painful" the family had ever had to endure.

"The tragic and needless loss of my son Zayden devastated us all, and still does to this very day," the statement read.

"I don't even know where to begin to express the pain I hold in my heart.

"The feeling of losing my son in this brutal way - not many families have had to endure this but walking down an aisle carrying your son in his coffin should not have been."

'I had nothing to do with it': Hicks

Eleven cars and homes in the neighbourhood were broken into the night of the murder.

Hicks told police he had been high on ice that night.

While he admitted he was involved in some of the burglaries, he consistently denied he was responsible for killing Zayden.

"As I said to you in the car all the way here I had nothing to do with that, absolutely nothing," Hicks told police in an interview after the murder.

Hicks's lawyer David Hallowes told the court the critical question was whether Hicks had been able to commit all the burglaries alone.

Mr Hallowes said some articles stolen that night that had never been found, strongly suggesting someone else was involved.

However, stolen items from the Long Gully home, as well as the baton used in the murder, were found in a raid of Hicks's house.

Forensic evidence also found DNA matching the profile of both Zayden and Hicks.

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