Verdict brings closure to a case 'hanging quietly in Geelong's closet'

For more than two decades the crime remained unsolved and the tale of the young teenager stabbed to death in broad daylight in the centre of town gripped the community.

"It’s been a particular case hanging quietly in Geelong’s closet for a long time," said former mayor and businessman Keith Fagg.

Of her son's murder, Ricky's mother Christine Loader says: "It hasn’t just affected me and my family, it’s affected all of Geelong."

Inspector Gary Bruce, then a detective sergeant in Geelong's criminal investigation branch, was one of the first police on the scene of the stabbing.

He says the ripple effect on the community was widespread and recalls that parents began keeping their children home at night. Fearing more violence on their streets, he says the community reached out to police for reassurance that they were safe.

"I remember being asked to go to Newcomb Secondary back then and have a conversation with the teachers and the students around reassurance, because of the nature of the crime. And because [Ricky] was school aged, it did have an affect on the kids," he said.

"There was certainly apprehension around because it wasn’t clear who the offender was at that stage.

"The vibe of Market Square has changed considerably since that time."

The senior officer said the case also changed the way detectives investigated street violence in the area – they began spending significant time analysing the region’s juvenile gangs.

On Monday, Hague was convicted of Ricky's murder by a Supreme Court jury, almost 23 years after he was first questioned by police.

The verdict came after a week of deliberations, with the jury accepting prosecutor's claims the teen was stabbed in "payback" for damaging Hague's Kingswood.

Ms Loader says she will visit her son's grave to tell him his killer has finally been brought to justice.

"I’m going to go down to the cemetery and tell Rick, not that he hasn’t seen it all by now I’m sure, looking down on us all, but I’ve got to go and tell him," Ms Loader said.

"We’ve been waiting for this for so, so long."

Ricky and his mates were knockabout kids who bonded over the thrill of being on the wrong side of the tracks. They donned red bandanas, fashioning themselves into a juvenile street gang dubbed the Main Street Criminals.

They’d attended Newcomb High School together in Geelong’s east before testing the waters of the city’s criminal underworld together, a loosely bound mix of ego and teenage angst built on standover tactics and low-level drug dealing.

At the time, Hague was in his early 20s and already well known to police. His love of cars often saw him hanging out in the town centre, parking in the popular Kev's car park near a pool hall that is now a Westfield shopping centre.

It was where teens went when their parents thought they were tucked up in bed - a central meeting place where friendships and rivalries flourished.

Two weeks before the fatal stabbing, Hague and Ricky crossed paths there, and the older man would later admit to bashing Ricky in a street fight.

Later that same night, Ricky and his friends sought retribution. Armed with metal poles, they surrounded and smashed Hague's Kingswood as he sat inside with an associate.

Hague went to the shopping centre two weeks later seeking payback.

An intense and resource-heavy homicide investigation led by then-detective Ron Iddles eventually led to Hague’s arrest in 1996.

Hague was due to face a Supreme Court trial in February 1998, but the case was sensationally abandoned a week before it was due to take place after a string of witnesses died.

For the next 20 years, Hague filtered in and out of prison over a run of assaults and weapons offences, all while maintaining his innocence over the murder of Balcombe.

Ricky's mates did not come forward for years with information about the murder because they were bound by a gang "code of silence" and were also "shit scared" of speaking out after what happened to their friend.

But in March 2017 a highly publicised $1 million reward for information to catch the killer prompted an outpouring of information.

One person to come forward was Ricky's friend, Paul Bellia, who never got over the death of his high school mate. The memory of the murder affected his mental health to such a degree he has been institutionalised for much of his adult life.

Mr Bellia admitted repeatedly lying to police years ago, but told investigators he was adamant he saw Hague stab Ricky in the corridor.

In August, Hague was arrested again and charged with murder.

Hague is due to face court for a pre-sentence hearing in May.