An Adelaide man, who hit, killed and drove away from a two-year-old Aboriginal boy has been found guilty of all charges by a District Court on Thursday.
Michael Craig Bullock, 54, who is also a convicted paedophile, was found guilty on both charges of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene, which resulted in the death of two-year-old Zayne Colson in an Adelaide suburb in February 2017.
The jury returned a majority guilty verdict as Bullock showed little emotion before Judge Paul Cuthbertson revoked his bail and remanded him in custody for sentencing submissions in May.
Jurors cried as Thursday's verdict was handed down, while family members wearing shirts bearing a photo of the toddler embraced outside court.
Great aunty Tania Kearney called for greater sensitivity to be shown in court to people who have died.
"The way that my nephew was described in there was nothing short of disgusting," she said.
During the trial, the court heard little Zayne was outside his house playing with his sisters, aged five and seven when he was hit.
Prosecutor Rebecca Gray said the toddler had been dragged underneath the car for a few metres and was left lying on the road.
"The accused, following the collision, immediately drove on to his home that was 100 metres away," she said.
The jury heard Bullock's wife contacted emergency services, but Bullock told the operator: "I didn't stop. It wasn't safe.
Bullock testified he was travelling about 35km/h on the residential street when a young girl ran onto the road from behind a tree.
He said he swerved to miss her and felt something under his rear wheels but "just thought it was a ball".
He told the court he thought he was in danger because of an incident about six months earlier when a group of seven men tried to break into his house.
But Ms Gray said he had no reason to be fearful of the family, and he knew there were no men living at their home.
She suggested he would have been hesitant to brake because his German shepherd was travelling unrestrained in the car.
It is not the first time Bullock has seen the inside of a prison cell. In 2004, he was sentenced to nine years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to crimes including unlawful sexual intercourse with a six-year-old child.
Since then, he has also spent time in jail for the indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl and two counts of possessing child pornography.
AAP
