Kaydence Mills murder trial: Grim details emerge from first day in court

A couple accused of murdering toddler Kaydence Mills bought tape, garbage bags, an axe, a shovel, and children’s toys, before burying her body during a “family camping trip,” a court has heard.

In 2020, investigators charged Kaydence Mills'€™ mother Sinitta Dawita, 32, and de facto stepfather Tane Desatge, 44, with murder, torture, and interfering with a corpse. Pictures: Supplied and News Regional Media

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that the following article contains images of the deceased.
A Toowoomba court heard the alleged horrors a neglected and malnourished toddler was subjected to for months in her Western Downs home, before her death at the alleged hands of her caregivers at Chinchilla in 2017.

The mother of the two-year-old girl Kaydence Mills, Sinitta Dawita, and her then-boyfriend Tane Desatge, have pleaded not guilty to torture and murder before a judge-only trial in Toowoomba Supreme Court this week.

Kaydence Mills and her mother Sinitta. Picture: File / Supplied

The pair has pleaded guilty to interfering with the girl’s dead body sometime in 2017, between February and May, just months after the family relocated from North Queensland.

Kaydence’s skeletal remains were found at the Chinchilla Weir in March 2020, after the Queensland Police began looking for the girl in 2019.

The Crown said she had a small fracture to a rib and fractures to the base of her skull, however forensics could not determine if it occurred pre or post-mortem.

The court heard in the years before Kaydence lived with the pair, she was a healthy toddler who was meeting all her milestones.

The Crown said during the three-week trial, the court would hear allegations of domestic violence committed by Desatge against his co-accused.

Alleged inhuman treatment

The Crown alleged in the lead-up to the girl’s death she lay on a red couch, struggled to breathe, and was covered in various types of bruises.

Her head was shaved.

Facebook photo of Tane Desatge who has been charged with the murder of his stepdaughter Kaydence Dawita Mills.

Some of the bruising to the girl’s face were deep pink straight lines, and the Crown alleges Desatge was known to hit the girl with a cane stick.

In the months before Kaydence’s death, the Crown alleged Kaydence had to be covered head to toe before leaving the home to prevent anyone from seeing her injuries.

The Crown said Kaydence was treated differently from her siblings by both Dawita and Desatge, and she was not allowed to play with or eat with them.

It was also alleged by the Crown that the emaciated toddler was left to sleep naked and alone in a small tiled room with a toilet and was spoon fed her faeces.

The Crown said Kaydence was likely treated poorly because of “bad blood” between Desatge and her biological father, who Desatge believed was responsible for a past bashing that put him in hospital.

Body put in boot

During day one of the trial when Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane opened its case, the court heard Dawita and Desatge allegedly buried the girl’s body while on a family camping trip at the Chinchilla Weir.

Mr Lehane said the clothed body was allegedly moved from the home to an old outhouse in the backyard, as well as a garage.

The Crown alleged Dawita told Desatge she wanted to bury Kaydence in their backyard, but he said no because it would link them to her body.

Parents of missing Chinchilla girl Kaydence Dawita Mills; Sinitta Mills and Tane Desatge.

Before the “camping trip,” Mr Lehane alleged the pair travelled to Dalby to buy large black garbage bags, an axe, and a shovel from Bunnings with cash.

The court heard Tape was allegedly purchased at The Reject Shop, along with children’s toys.

Mr Lehane said on a warm night between 6pm and 7pm, on a date unknown, Kaydence’s body was wrapped in a sheet or blanket before being put into large black garbage bags kept together with tape.

It is then alleged the bags were wrapped in a blue tarp before being placed in the boot of a Commodore, and then the family set out to the Chinchilla Weir about 8pm.

Mr Lehane said the shovel and tarp were allegedly discarded at the dump and Kaydence’s belongings were later tossed out.

Out of sight

Kaydence was missing for about two years before anyone realised, and the court heard not many Chinchilla residents didn’t know of the girl’s existence because the family had kept to themselves during their move south.

The court heard Dawita allegedly told a number of lies about giving Kaydence away to other family members as well as a woman she met on Facebook.

Before the family moved into Kaydence’s last home, they lived at the Chinchilla Motor Inn during late 2016 and early 2017.

During that time, the Crown said the owners of the accommodation never saw Kaydence, however had seen the other children, who they bought Christmas presents for.

The Crown said the owners of the couple’s rental, who also lived next door, had not seen Kaydence playing in the backyard with the other children.

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

They could not recall seeing Kaydence at all, the Crown said.

However, the court heard Dawita was often seen walking her other children to school every day with a pram in tow.

The trial continues.