Allyn John Slater sentenced to life in jail for murdering Bundaberg schoolgirl Trinity Bates

THE man accused of murdering Bundaberg schoolgirl Trinity Bates has pleaded guilty just days before he was set to face trial.

Trinity Leigh Bates

THE man who took eight-year-old Bundaberg schoolgirl Trinity Lee Bates from her room in the dead of night, before choking her and drowning her in a drain culvert, has been jailed for life.

Allyn John Slater, 22, was charged with the child's murder after her body was found in a drain 100m from her Walker St home at 6.15am on February 22, 2010.

Slater, 22, entered a plea of guilty during a pre-trial hearing in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday.

He was sentenced by Justice Duncan McMeekin this afternoon.

"You took a child from her bedroom as she was sleeping, strangled her and left her to drown in a drain," he said.

"An offence of this type is every parent's worse nightmare.

"The crime seems senseless and you've never been able to offer an explanation for it and it has horrified the community in which you lived and devastated her family."

Trinity - known to her family and friends as Trinny - was reported missing on February 22, 2010, but had not been seen since 9.30pm the previous night.

A fingerprint on the girl's bedroom window and on a plastic garden chair nearby had led to Slater's identification.

The court heard Slater, who was 19 at the time, had "made full admissions in relation to abducting and strangling the deceased" during a police interview in the days following her death.

Trinity's death devastated the community where more than 500 people turned out in pink and black at her funeral.

She was described as a "bright spark" and "beautiful child with an aura about her".