WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS
A man neglected, beat and abused his two-year-old stepdaughter because he didn’t like her. He forced her to eat her own feces before murdering her and dumping her remains at a dam.
Tane Saul Desatge was found guilty earlier this week at a judge-only trial of the murder and torture of Kaydence Hazel Mills, the daughter of his then-girlfriend Sinitta Tammy Dawita, between February 16 and May 6, 2017.
The two-year-old’s body was found buried near Chinchilla Weir, in regional Queensland, in March 2020, wrapped in garbage bags and a blanket.
Desatge, 45, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Toowoomba Supreme Court on Thursday. He will be eligible to apply for parole in 2042.
Ms Dawita, 32, was found not guilty of her daughter’s murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter, and not guilty of torture.
In a published judgment, High Court Judge Paul Cooper said the couple began a relationship in 2015 and were living in an apartment in Chinchilla by 2016.
Kaydence was the biological daughter of Mrs. Dawita and another man, Robert Mills.
Tane Saul Desatge was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the murder of his two-year-old stepdaughter Kaydence Hazel Mills (pictured)
Desatge (pictured left) and Kaydence’s mother Sinitta Tammy Dawita (pictured together) blamed each other for the toddlers’ deaths
Judge Cooper said Desatge felt “hostility” towards Mr Mills, which influenced his treatment of Kaydence.
The child was left without clothes and sleeping in the toilet after Desatge locked him there, he said.
At other times, Desatge forced Kaydence to eat her own feces.
Judge Cooper said the child was struck in the face and head with a bamboo stick during toilet training. The abuse was so severe that she was last seen lying on a red sofa, not breathing properly.
Kaydence’s death could not be determined, but an autopsy revealed it was likely the result of a severe blow to the base of the skull.
Judge Cooper said there was evidence she had suffered a broken rib at least a week before her death in early 2017.
“The defendants concealed her death: first by wrapping the body and placing it in a shed in the back garden of the house where they lived in Chinchilla; then by burying the body at Chinchilla Weir,” Judge Cooper’s summary of the verdict read.
Judge Cooper said the pair then threw out Kaydence’s things and said she had moved elsewhere.
Desatge and Dawita blamed each other for Kaydence’s death.
Both Desatge and Dawita (pictured with Kaydenc) blamed each other for the toddler’s death
The 45-year-old man claimed he came home and saw the child struggling to breathe, Dawita told him Kaydence had fallen down the stairs.
“In convicting Desatge of murder, the court rejected Desatge’s statements that he was not present when Kaydence sustained the injuries that led to her death,” the ruling said.
The court concluded that Desatge’s hitting Kaydence on the head and face with the bamboo stick resulted in her death.
‘In convicting Desatge of torture, the court found that he intentionally caused Kaydence severe pain or suffering before she died by hitting her on the head and face with the bamboo stick.’