Phone tap reveals vile statement of alleged child killer, during Kaydence Mills trial

While investigators dug up a backyard in Chinchilla looking for a missing toddler, investigators wiretapped her accused killer’s phones capturing a vile statement made by the girl’s stepdad which showed his “deep dislike” of the innocent two-year-old.

Tane Desatge, father of 11, is accused of beating, torturing, and murdering his girlfriend’s two-year-old girlfriend because he hated the child’s biological father.

Hours after homicide detectives excavated a Chinchilla backyard looking for a missing toddler in December 2019, police intercepted a phone call where the girl’s stepdad made a vile statement about the little girl’s death.

The two-year-old’s body, Kaydence Hazel Mills, wasn’t found until March 2020, and soon after her mother Sinitta Dawita, and her boyfriend Tane Desatge were charged with murder and torture.

Kaydence Hazel Mills should be turning 10.

They pleaded not guilty to those charges during a judge-only trial at the Toowoomba Supreme Court on July 22, 2024.
The little girl’s partial skeletal remains were located at the Chinchilla Weir after Desatge told undercover investigators the pair buried the girl during a camping trip after she fell downstairs in early 2017.

Desatge told them he urged Dawita to take Kaydence, who he cared for, to the hospital or call an ambulance but her mother refused.

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

While at the unmarked grave, an undercover detective asked Desatge if they visited the site on Kaydence’s birthday.

He said, “I don’t know her birthday,” but Dawita had visited a number of times.

After Kaydence was buried in garbage bags and a sheet, the court heard the pair dumped her belongings, a shovel, and a tarp used to transport the body, at the Chinchilla dump.

“Dying little c—t”

The version of events he gave to the covert investigators was called into question when a phone tap was played to the court on Wednesday, July 31.

Dawita made the call at 8.06pm on December 3, 2019, after police seized the pair’s rental at 10 Inverai Road, deploying a cadaver dog and excavating the backyard.

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. Pictures: Peta McEachern

During the short recording, Desatge can be heard saying words to the effect of, “I told those motherf-kers… that dying little c-nt had a fit”.

Desatge’s legal team, headed by Barrister Frank Martin, objected to the recording being admitted as evidence because Desatge had been drinking and the poor quality of the recording.

He noted the word “dying,” sounded similar to a few others, including “lying,”.

Desatge told undercover detectives after the fall Kaydence was unresponsive, struggled to breathe, and her eyes were rolled back into her head.

Investigators cordoned off the little girl's home in Chinchilla for a number of days in late 2019, months after Kaydence was reported missing. Pictures: Peta McEachern

Dawita’s Barrister David Jones KC said the recording was relevant because it was an inconsistent version of Kaydence’s last hours, as well as the alleged affection he said he had for the child.

Mr Jones noted forensic pediatrician and expert witness Dr Catherine Skellern said the injury to Kaydence’s skull, if it occurred before death, would likely cause a seizure.

He said the language used showed Desatge’s “ingrained dislike” towards Kaydence was prevalent even after her death, which stemmed from his “deep dislike” of her father and indicated a motive.

The court heard Desatge believed the child’s father had him bashed not long after he and Dawita began dating in 2015.

Homicide detectives at the Chinchilla Weir in early March 2020.

Objection overruled

Justice Sean Cooper overruled Mr Martin’s objection to the admissibility of the recording, and said he was not persuaded that Desatge’s possible intoxication warranted the refusal of the evidence, nor was the quality of the recording poor.

Justice Cooper said he needed to carefully re-listen to the recording when reviewing the evidence, however upon hearing it played to the court twice, he clearly heard the following statement.

“I told those motherf-kers… that dying little c-nt had a fit.”

The trial continues.

Originally published as Phone tap reveals vile statement of alleged child killer, during Kaydence Mills trial