Kaydence Mills murder trial continues as mental health practitioner gives evidence

A pregnant mum accused of murdering her toddler in regional Queensland told a mental health practitioner that she had a ‘secret’, a court has been told.

Kaydence Mills and (inset) her mother Sinitta Dawita.

Warning: This content involves graphic content and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that the following article contains images of the deceased.

A medical practitioner who treated a North Queensland woman after she allegedly took part in the torture and subsequent murder of her missing toddler at Chinchilla, told the court the woman told her she had a “secret”.

The 32-year-old mother of six, Sinitta Dawita, and her ex-boyfriend and dad of 11, Tane Desatge, pleaded not guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to murdering two-year-old Kaydence Mills in early 2017.

Full trial details here.
At the beginning of the judge-only trial, the Crown alleged Mr Desatge often beat a malnourished Kaydence with a cane, kept her naked and captive in a toilet and forced her to eat her own faeces.

The pair also pleaded not guilty to torture before the Toowoomba Supreme Court, however they did plead guilty to moving the child’s body which was found at the Chinchilla Weir in March 2020.

Days earlier, the court heard Kaydence was buried in garbage bags during a family camping trip between February and May 2017.

During the first days of March 2020, investigators began searching the banks of the Condamine River at the Chinchilla Weir, finding skeletal remains of Kaydence.

No one knew she was missing until 2019, and the little girl died shortly after the family moved from Tully in North Queensland to the Western Downs in December 2016, the court was told.

‘I have a secret’

Western Downs Mental Health Service nurse June Cook told the court on Thursday, July 25, that she first spoke with Ms Dawita in November 2018 – more than a year after Kaydence’s death.

Ms Cook told the court a suicidal Ms Dawita said “her head was spinning and spinning”, and she was worried about “going insane” and turning to drug use.

Kaydence Mills' mother Sinitta Dawita, and her then-boyfriend Tane Desatge, pleaded not guilty to torturing and murdering the little girl.

During a session on January 9, 2019, Ms Cook said Ms Dawita had a different plan to harm herself but didn’t go through with it because of her unborn baby – her third child to Mr Desatge.

Ms Dawita said she was having visual and auditory hallucinations, but couldn’t explain what she was hearing or seeing, the witness said.

Ms Cook said on January 30, a visibly rattled and depressed Ms Dawita said she “had a secret” she had been hiding from everyone that involved her ex, Mr Desatge, and a child of hers from some time ago.

She told Ms Cook she was scared to speak up out of fear of losing her children, and also scared of retribution from Mr Desatge and his family, the court was told.

An old outhouse was excavated after a cadaver dog scented human remains at the little girl’s home on the corner of Inverai Rd and Burbank St in Chinchilla on the Western Downs in December 2019. Picture: Peta McEachern

Ms Cook said Ms Dawita said she was having trouble coping with what she knew and with extreme guilt.

The court heard after the appointment Ms Dawita disengaged with the service until the following year, January 2020.

Ms Cook said after Ms Dawita told her she had a secret about a child, she informed the relevant authorities.

When cross-examined by the Crown, Ms Cook reiterated that during that session Ms Dawita also spoke about still loving the ex-partner, but she coped better without him.

The court heard during the pair’s relationship Mr Desatge was jealous, violent, and abusive to Ms Dawita.

The trial continues this week.

Originally published as Kaydence Mills murder trial continues as mental health practitioner gives evidence