Born on April 20, 2006, he was described as an energetic young child who enjoyed playing with his toys, and loved and admired his older sister.

In fact on the night of his death, the 23-month-old boy was tearing around the Brisbane Street unit he called home on a scooter and spent time playing in a tent that had been erected in the lounge room.

Yesterday, after the man found guilty of his murder, 21-year-old Matthew Allen James Dennis, was sentenced to a lengthy jail term, his family spoke of a young boy they got to spend far too little time with.

“He was the happiest kid you could ever meet,” his father Patrick Jackson said.

“He loved life, it’s just unfortunate that life was cut short.

“But we’ve got memories of him, and they are happy memories of a boy that people just took to.

“Anyone that met him just loved him and while it’s hard to believe anyone could do what happened to him, we know the kind of boy he was and that will never leave us.

“Christmas is coming up and obviously that’s always hard but to have this over and done with means that we can rest easy knowing that justice has been done for Jakeel.”

Cases like this never have just the one victim.

Generally they tear at the seams of the families involved, regardless of which side of the court room they were sitting.

Jakeel’s mother has refused to speak publicly about her son’s death and left that responsibility to his grandfather Greg Cross.

“It’s taken a toll on everyone but it’s over now and while it won’t bring Jakeel back, we can start trying to mend our lives a little bit,” he said.

“He was a happy-go-lucky kid, we loved him and it’s sad that we lost him. But we will work as a family to help each other through.”

It should be noted that since Dennis was charged with Jakeel’s murder, media outlets have been unable to name the young child due to legal reasons.

The Daily Liberal contacted both sides of Jakeel’s family in order to seek permission, which they kindly granted.

The Liberal would like to thank the families for their support of our coverage.

“I want people to know who Jakeel was,” Patrick Jackson said.

“I understand the law but I also think it is important people know what happened to Jakeel. He was a human being, a young boy with a name.”

ben.walker@ruralpress.com