TODDLER TREATED ‘LIKE AN ANIMAL’
PETA MCEACHERN

A court has been told the parents of a missing Queensland toddler “treated the little girl worse than an animal”, and held her captive in the toilet for potty training in the lead-up to her alleged murder.

The Crown alleges Kaydence Mills (pictured) was killed sometime between February 16, 2017, when she moved into a Chinchilla rental with her
family, and May 6, 2017, when her family went on a trip to North Queensland without her.

Her remains were buried at the Chinchilla Weir during a family camping
trip when her mother Sinitta Dawita was between three and six months pregnant with boyfriend Tane Desatge’s second child.

At the Toowoomba Supreme Court on Monday, Ms Dawita and Mr Desatge pleaded not guilty to torture and murder, but pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse.

On day three of the trial, a witness told the court Mr Desatge would beat the girl with a cane because he struggled to potty train her.

The witness said they did not know why the two-year-old girl was not bought a potty for toilet training, rather than being left to live in the toilet with no clothes.

The court was told that on one occasion when the two-year-old fell into the toilet, she was told to get herself out.

At the beginning of the murder trial at the Toowoomba Supreme Court, Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said the inhuman treatment from
Kaydence’s caregivers undoubtedly led to her death.

Mr Lehane alleged the last time Kaydence was seen alive her head was shaved and her face was covered in bruises of various colours.

The trial continues.