Guilty: Victorian man who killed his girlfriend's four-month-old baby sentenced
Jesse Vinaccia found guilty of child homicide
By Lucy Mae Beers & Michelle Connolly
October 14 2019
A Victorian man who killed his girlfriend's four-month-old baby boy has been sentenced to eight years jail.
Jesse Vinaccia, 26, was found guilty of child homicide in June after he shook or manhandled 17-week old Kaleb in January 2016 while his then-girlfriend was at work.
Erin Baylis-Clarke arrives at the Supreme Court.
"I don't get to see him grow up, never get to hear him call me mum or tell me he loves me," Ms Baylis-Clarke told the Supreme Court on Monday.
"Being a mother without a child to nurture is so empty."
"Now, I wish I hadn't buried him. I'd wish he'd been cremated so I could have him home with me always."
Vinaccia had moved in with young mum Erin Baylis-Clarke and her newborn only a few weeks before the incident. Kaleb died in hospital from severe bleeding of the brain on January 30, a week after Vinaccia found the child unresponsive in his cot.
On Monday, Vinaccia was sentenced to eight and a half years jail and will be eligible for parole after five and a half years.
After the baby's death, he told police he had "put him down in the cot a bit hard" after arguing with the boy's father via Facebook.
