Chinchilla toddler Kaydence Mills allegedly chained in bathroom with dog collar

A court has heard in the murder trial of a mother and stepdad that a two-year-old girl was allegedly chained inside a bathroom with a dog collar, fed dog food and her own faeces in the lead up to her death.

Sinitta Dawita and Tane Desatge pleaded not guilty to the murder and torture of two-year-old girl Kaydence Mills at Toowoomba Supreme Court on July 22, 2024.

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 toddler who was missing from a regional Queensland town for two years was allegedly kept chained in a bathroom with a dog collar and fed dog food in the lead-up to her death in 2017.

The two-year-old girl, Kaydence Mills, died soon after her family moved from Tully in North Queensland, to Chinchilla on the Western Downs.

Full trial details here.

Kaydence’s remains were recovered from an unmarked grave at the Chinchilla Weir on March 1, 2020, a day after her mother’s boyfriend, Tane Desatge, told police where she was buried.

The little girl’s mother Sinitta Dawita and Desatge, pleaded not guilty to murder and torture before a judge-only trial at the Toowoomba Supreme Court on July 22, 2024.

The pair pleaded guilty to interfering with a body.

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

Toddler allegedly chained in bathroom

During week two of the trial on July 29, the court heard while in Chinchilla Kaydence was held captive in a bathroom where she was chained with a dog collar.

The court heard the only food the toddler was allowed to eat was dog food, and if her siblings tried to sneak her food they were allegedly hit or locked outside the home with cans of dog food.

On December 3, 2019, meters away from the Warrego Highway investigators cordoned off the little girl’s home on the corner of Inverai Rd and Burbank St where they excavated a shed in the backyard where her body was allegedly kept. Pictures: Peta McEachern

Earlier in the trial the Crown alleged Kaydence slept naked in her own filth on the bathroom floor and was spoonfed her own faeces.

The Crown alleged Desatge beat the little girl with a bamboo cane because she wasn’t toilet trained.

Stepdad says girl fell down stairs before death

The Crown said sometime between February and May 2017, Kaydence spent her last moments struggling to breathe on a couch and her face was covered in black, blue, and green bruises.

Forensics showed she had a fracture to her rib, and a fracture at the base of her skull that was applied at or after her time of death.

The back concrete stairs (left) at 10 Inverai Rd Chinchilla, where Desatge alleges Kaydence was fatally injured in a fall. Picture: CoreLogic

On day six of the trial, a recording of Desatge was played to the court where he told undercover investigators Kaydence died after falling down concrete stairs at the Chinchilla home.

He said Kaydence hadn’t been hit.
Desatge said when he arrived home from playing the pokies, Dawita told him Kaydence had fallen, and he urged her to ring an ambulance or take her to the hospital because she wasn’t breathing properly.

Kaydence’s eyes had rolled to the back of her head and she was not responsive, he said.

Father of 11, Tane Desatge.

He said Dawita refused to get the child medical help because she was scared of losing her children.

“She’s cold”

Desatge said throughout the night they checked on Kaydence and at some point Dawita told him her body had gone cold.

A sheet was placed over her, and the next day he said they drove to Dalby for supplies after planning a camping trip.

The crime scene at the Chinchilla Weir where Kaydence was found.

They bought an axe, shovel, and large black garbage bags from Bunnings, and sticky tape and children’s toys from the Reject Shop with cash.

In the recording he said Dawita wanted to burry Kaydence in their backyard, but he said no because it would link them to her body.

He told investigators later that day he left Dawita to wrap Kaydence because her body creeped him out.

Body buried during camping trip

Between 6pm and 7pm, he said Kaydence’s body was wrapped in a sheet or blanket before being put into the garbage bags which were taped together.

The Chinchilla Weir, which services rural landowners and the town water supply, is topped up with water extracted during coal seal gas extraction in a deal struck by council and fossil fuel conglomerates. Picture: Matthew Newton

The bags were wrapped in a blue tarp, before the court heard she was “thrown” in the back of a Commodore alongside the camping gear.

About 8pm, Desatge said they arrived at the Chinchilla Weir, and he waited until 2-3am before digging a hole where the damn met a river.

Earlier in the night they built a campfire and went fishing.

Desatge said he never touched the body.

The trial continues.