Dad’s anger as efforts to save daughter fail

WRAPPED in a plastic bin bag and buried in a shallow, unmarked grave, Kaydence Dawita Mills’s body was found almost four years after her father first raised concerns with the Department of Child Safety about her wellbeing and whereabouts.

Once detectives started looking for her late last year, it took five months to find the missing two-year-old’s body.

Raising the alarm with the department in 2016, her biological father, Robert Mills, 36, said he made multiple reports as he held grave concerns for Kaydence’s safety, although it is alleged she died a year later under stances.

Mr Mills’s ex-partner and Kaydence’s mother, Sinitta Tammy Dawita, 28, and her horrific circumpartner, Tane Saul Destage, 40, were charged on March 2 with murder, torture and interfering with Kaydence’s corpse, after her remains w were found c chilla Weir.

Mr Mills says his rep peated requests to Child Safety about her wellbeing were not taken seriously b because of his criminal past, a and the colour of his daughter’s skin. He said he was shattered to lay his little girl t to rest, but thankful to f finally have her home.

“This is a train wreck; I have to bury her in (two) weeks … her body is here in Innisfail now, we’ve just b brought her up,’’ he said.

“St Vinnies have been really good, they’ve given me $10,000 towards it, and to help move her body.”

As he plans her burial, Mr Mills is determined to fight for a better system where this won’t happen to anat the Chinother family. “I want them to take it more seriously,” he said.

“No one listened. No one took it seriously. They said … ‘ Once a child is back with a biological parent out of Child Safety’s care … we are not bound by law to investigate unless there is significant concerns of harm or danger’.”

Mr Mills believes race may have played a role in Kaydence falling through cracks in the system. “I think it was swept under the carpet … because she’s of Indigenous descent.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women was unable to comment on the case due to restrictions within the Child Protection Act.