Donna Deaves jailed for 12 years over daughter Tanilla's death Donna Deaves at court on Wednesday. Two-year-old Tanilla Warwick-Deaves spent the last two days of her life lying in a pram, bruised, battered and unable to save herself. Her mother Donna Deaves was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Wednesday for failing to do anything to stop the little girl from dying. Deaves has a non-parole period of nine years. In pleading guilty to manslaughter on the basis of criminal negligence, Deaves admitted to witnessing a man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, assault Tanilla on August 25, 2011, at a house in Watanobbi on the central coast. Tanilla Warrick-Deaves. She also admitted to leaving the toddler in her pram for the next 48 hours and failing to seek any medical attention until the early hours of August 27 when she finally called Triple-0. Tanilla died soon after. Deaves told a sentencing hearing earlier this month that "of course" she loved her daughter but she was scared and frightened and didn't know what to do after Tanilla was bashed. "Until you're in that position, it's impossible to say what it's like," the 29-year-old said. When you're shocked and frightened or scared it's really difficult to do anything. The case reignited debate over under-resourcing within the Department of Family and Community Services with a court hearing that child welfare workers had deemed Deaves to be a fit parent. Tanilla's stepmother, Brooke Bowen, said her family had made repeated calls to FACS, claiming there were 33 reports concerning her welfare. In his victim impact statement, Tanilla's biological father, Adrian Warrick, said that on the few occasions he had been allowed to take Tanilla, she was bruised and malnourished but he was told by caseworkers that Deaves was fit to have custody of the child. Eight months later she is murdered ... I never saw Tanilla again until the day we buried her," he said. This is how I got my baby girl back - dead. He said he had become a "broken man" since Tanilla's death and he had urged Justice Stephen Rothman to "impose a lengthy sentence and ... to consider the violence perpetrated against her tiny body." "We need to stop this happening to other Australian children," he said in his victim impact statement. The co-accused will stand trial for murder at a later date.