Locals saw the two-year-old girl being hit, abused and dragged along a street. A neighbour heard sounds of whipping and a child's screams ringing out. A visitor was told the toddler was beaten with electrical cords, a strap and a wooden spoon and ordered to run laps of the lounge room as a punishment.
Relatives of Tanilla Opal Warrick-Deaves said they made 33 reports to the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) about her welfare. At least one neighbour called police with concerns.
But her mother, Donna Deaves, only made one call, two days too late. At 4.03am on August 27, 2011, Deaves rang triple-0 when she woke in her central coast home to find her daughter had vomited and was not breathing.
Let down by the system: Tanilla Warrick-Deaves.
Two days earlier, Deaves saw her boyfriend allegedly slamming the toddler's head into the shower walls, dangling her head-first over the toilet, and kicking and throwing her limp body, according to an agreed statement of facts before the NSW Supreme Court.
Deaves, 29, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to murdering Tanilla, but guilty to her manslaughter on the basis of criminal negligence.
She left Tanilla lying unconscious for almost two nights after the alleged beating, the court was told.
Her boyfriend, who is not Tanilla's biological father, will face trial in October accused of murder.
According to the court document, residents saw the boyfriend refusing to hold the child in a Wyong street on July 25, allegedly kicking and hitting her, calling her a ''c---'' and dragging her along the street.
In August, a neighbour of the Watanobbi family heard sounds of whipping, and a child crying out in pain for about half an hour, the statement said.
A visitor who went to the house in mid-August told police the boyfriend forced Tanilla to run laps of the lounge room as punishment for dropping his 10 kilogram toolbox on her hand, which swelled to the size of a man's hand. At the time of her death, Tanilla weighed 14 kilograms.
The document said the couple had been trying to toilet train the child and, if she wet herself, the boyfriend would make her stay awake all night and stand in the hallway looking at the toilet.
On August 25, the man grew angry when Tanilla wet her pants, and he put her in the shower. Deaves said she heard what sounded like the child's head hitting the glass screen, the statement said.
''[Deaves] heard the deceased screaming 'no, no, no'.
''When [Deaves] arrived, [the man] was holding the deceased by her wet hair. [He] banged the deceased's head into the shower wall and [Deaves] noticed that the deceased's mouth was bloody.''
The document said when Deaves told the man to stop, he slapped her across the face with the back of his hand, before allegedly banging the girl's head on the shower screen and holding the naked, shivering child over the toilet by one leg. According to the statement, Deaves was present the whole time.
A lifeless Tanilla was later put into a stroller, which was parked in the couple's bedroom, where she stayed for much of two nights, making ''rattly'' and ''gurgling'' sounds, the statement said. She did not regain consciousness.
Outside court, Tanilla's stepmother Brooke Bowen broke down and said community services should be ''hanging their heads in shame''.
''It wasn't just the last two weeks of her life she was being reported. She had 33 reports on her and she was only 2½. Alarm bells, hello?''
In a statement, a spokesman for FaCS said staff were ''deeply saddened by the tragic case of this little girl''.
But he would not confirm Ms Bowen's claims, saying there could be no further comment until Deaves' case, and related cases, were finalised.
Deaves will face a sentencing hearing in September.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/bashed-beaten-and-left-to-die-20130709-2pofe.html
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