Shocking violent crimes that gripped Toowoomba in 2024
They disgusted us and broke our hearts; these are some of the shockingly violent crimes that came before our courts in 2024. Warning: Distressing content.
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Warning: This article contains distressing content. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article includes the name and image of a person who has died.
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The Darling Downs and South West region have been home to many unimaginably violent and monstrous crimes committed by unthinking and cruel offenders.
In 2024, a number of these violent perpetrators were sentenced for their heinous crimes, giving loved ones of victims and victims themselves some sense of justice.
These are some of the vicious and violent crimes prosecuted in Toowoomba courts this year.
Tane Saul Desatge
Starved, beaten and shunned; this was the tortious experience of life for two-year-old Kaydence Mills who died at the hands of her stepfather Tane Desatge at their Chinchilla home in 2017.
Kaydence grew up with a loving foster home but was returned to the care of her biological mother and Desatge in September 2016 – about four months later she died on a couch, covered in bruises, with a week-old fracture to a rib.
Her true cause of death was unknown but what was clear was the vicious abuse Desatge unleashed on her, said to have been spurred from his hatred of her biological father.
The court heard Desatge, on multiple occasions, violently beat Kaydence with a bamboo stick.
The sick torture was employed as an extreme form of toilet training to punish Kaydence, a two-year-old girl, for wetting herself in his home.
Kaydence was left to sleep alone and unclothed in a toilet, forced to eat her waste.
Her mother, on one occasion, was forced at knifepoint to join in on the abuse.
After her death, the pair acted as if she never existed, hiding her body in a shallow grave and disposing of all her belongings.
Only in late 2019 did anyone realise the young girl was missing.
The Supreme Court Justice noted Desatge showed a lack of remorse for his monstrous behaviour, even after the young girl’s death, stating the man clearly knew the extent of Kaydence’s pain.
Desatge was sentenced to life, 22 years, in prison and will be eligible for parole in March 2042.
If released he will remain on parole for the rest of his life.
Caleb Joel Kirby
Inside a suburban family home in the late 1990s, Toowoomba man Caleb Kirby raped and abused an eight-year-old boy when he himself was a teenager.
For his crimes, he would not spend a day in jail.
The court heard Kirby raped the young boy and incited him to perform sexual acts as part of a wicked game from 1998 to 2000.
The boy was told by Kirby to undress and parade around the room when he lost the ‘game’ Kirby coerced him to play on multiple occasions.
In a 2019 phone call, Kirby admitted to molesting the boy; not knowing his confessions had been covertly recorded.
In court, Kirby’s defence argued he was a victim of child abuse and his remorse and rehabilitation efforts since the damning phone call precluded him from actual jail time.
Taking this into account and his young age at the time of the offences, the judge sentenced Kirby to two years and six months imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of three years.
Phillip Alastair Harris
A week before Christmas 2023, among the singed debris of a Toowoomba home, firefighters discovered the dismembered remains of a 63-year-old pensioner and the slain body of his dog.
The court heard Mr Weaver, a beloved dad and grandfather, was stabbed more than 20 times and evidence of blunt force trauma was found on his face.
According to the prosecution case, a circular saw blade found in Harris’s possession and two hunting knives were likely used to dismember his body.
He told police he had lit fire to the address in a panic after discovering Mr Weaver and Max’s bodies, already deceased, and tracking DNA through the home in an attempt to catch the real killer.
In the watch-house, prosecution claimed Harris urinated on himself before declaring ‘you won’t find anything now’, believing any potential evidence would now be unusable.
Harris was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole after 20 years.
Christopher Mark Grosser
Toowoomba man Chris Grosser left his partner to die, bleeding out as their house went up in flames, only two days after she had saved his life.
While both Grosser and the woman reported having little memory of the event, the court heard Grosser stabbed the woman four times in the stomach and chest.
Neighbours reported hearing Grosser yell “see what you made me f***ing do” during the struggle, prompting multiple calls to emergency services.
Prosecution claimed the woman, while bleeding on the floor, noticed a small fire burning and gathered the strength to escape the garage before it engulfed large parts of the home.
When police found Grosser roughly two hours after the attack, they believed him dead.
He was discovered with three wounds to his chest and severe burns on his upper body and hands; later doctor’s uncovered irreparable damage to his oesophagus either from a consuming corrosive substance or inhaling the fire’s fumes – believed to be self-inflicted.
Two days before the attack, Grosser attempted suicide but was saved by his partner.
That same day he beat her with a guitar, leaving bruises all over her body.
Grosser’s defence team said he had a long history of depression and suicidal thoughts, made worse by his use of methamphetamines.
Grosser was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for the attempted murder and five years imprisonment for the arson, to be served cumulatively, with 107 days of presentence custody declared time served.
Teenage killer
Elderly Toowoomba photographer Robert Brown was shopping for a Valentine’s Day gift when he was pushed to his death by a teenage assailant.
The teen, with two co-accused, went to Grand Central Shopping Centre where they were seen tailing 75-year-old Mr Brown.
After several minutes, the teenager pushed Mr Brown to the ground and grabbed his backpack before fleeing.
The fall caused a critical head and neck injury which ultimately led to his death.
The teenager’s defence team advised he was immensely remorseful for his actions and was inconsolable when he discovered Mr Brown had died.
The court heard the teenager was “the product of a highly dysfunctional family” and that his childhood home was scarred by repeated acts of domestic violence perpetrated by his father.
He was also diagnosed with a severe speech and language disorder, a suspected intellectual disability, a hearing impairment, anxiety, depression and attachment-based trauma, the court heard.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison, to serve 50 per cent of the sentence.
At sentencing, 474 days of pre-sentence custody was declared time served.
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Originally published as Shocking violent crimes that gripped Toowoomba in 2024
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