Vic mum slept beside killed baby's grave

Victorian mum Erin Baylis-Clarke used to take a blanket to the cemetery where her son is buried and spend hours lying next to the 17-week-old's grave.

Her ex-boyfriend has been convicted of killing baby Kaleb.

"I'd take a blanket to the cemetery and lie at his graveside for hours on end, just wanting to be with him," Ms Baylis-Clarke told Victoria's Supreme Court on Monday.

"Now, I wish I hadn't buried him. I'd wish he'd been cremated so I could have him home with me always."

Kaleb died from a severe brain bleed in hospital on January 30, 2016, a week after Ms Baylis-Clarke's boyfriend, Jesse Vinaccia, then 22, shook or manhandled him.

The now 26-year-old was found guilty by a jury of child homicide in June.

At his pre-sentence hearing on Monday, Ms Baylis-Clarke said she had been robbed of seeing her son become a man.

"I don't get to see him grow up, never get to hear him call me mum or tell me he loves me, never take him to school for his first day, never see him reach his goals," she told the court through tears.

"Being a mother without a child to nurture is so empty."

Kaleb's father, Shannon Spackman, also said he struggled to live without his son.

"I will miss out on his first words, his first steps, his first day at school," he said in a statement read to the court by his mother, Lisa.

Vinaccia had moved in with Ms Baylis-Clark and her newborn only a few weeks before the incident.

He was looking after Kaleb when Mr Spackman messaged him on Facebook, saying: "You're not the dad, I am, and I would appreciate it if you didn't post photos with my son every day."

Vinaccia later told police he was angry about the message and had put Kaleb down ''pretty rough'' in his cot.

He found Kaleb unresponsive a few hours later.

Ms Baylis-Clark's relationship with Vinaccia ended the same day her son's life support was turned off.

Justice Michael Croucher believed Vinaccia was remorseful, citing footage of a police interview in which "he looks like a completely broken man. He knows he has done something horrible".

"I don't think I've seen a person as distressed as he was in the interview in my time," he said.

Defence lawyer Glenn Casement described Vinaccia as a "young man who will carry the burden of what's occurred for the remainder of his days".

But the prosecution noted Vinaccia lied to Ms Baylis-Clark about what happened to baby Kaleb, didn't immediately confess or later plead guilty.

Vinaccia will be sentenced on September 13.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636