Northern Territory’s police chief has unleashed on rioters after a night of violence in the wake of the murder of a five-year-old girl, as her family call for calm.
Alice Springs erupted in flames after vigilantes found suspected killer Jefferson Lewis at Charles Creek town camp, where he was bashed unconscious before cops arrived.
Lewis is alleged to have abducted and murdered the five-year-old girl, now known by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby for cultural reasons, who vanished on Anzac Day.
Commissioner Martin Dole said paramedics trying to revive Lewis after he was found by the mob also came under attack and had to be rescued by police.
He said police resources had already been stretched in the manhunt for Lewis and the little girl before her body was found 5km south of Alice Springs on Thursday.
‘Now to divert those resources to having to investigate senseless violence against emergency services is just something that isn’t required,’ he said.
Lewis, 47, was taken to Alice Springs hospital by police where he was treated for a head wound before the furious mob then descended on the medical facility.
Police had to use tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against the crowd which also set a police vehicle ablaze.
Cmmr Dole said several police officers were injured, along with a Northern Territory Fire and Rescue officer who received a significant facial injury requiring treatment.
Kumanjayi Little Baby’s body was found south of Alice Springs on Thursday
Murder suspect Jefferson Lewis, 47, was arrested early this morning after he was hunted down by an angry crowd of vigilantes.
Violence broke out in Alice Springs after Lewis’ arrest
A police car was set on fire outside the hospital Jefferson Lewis was staying at after riots broke out
Jefferson Lewis is now in police custody in Darwin, after being airlifted from Alice Springs
‘Several ambulance officers were also attacked and received soft tissue injuries,’ he said.
One woman was arrested and is being investigated for attempted arson, and it’s expected more arrests will follow on Friday.
The Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said alcohol sales in the city will be paused today in an attempt to quell the violence.
This comes as Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family released a statement via elder Robin Granites – the child’s grandfather – who pleaded with the Indigenous community to allow justice to take its course.
‘Everyone is feeling upset and emotions are high,’ he said.
‘I understand that what happened this week is not our way. Our children are precious. Of course we are feeling angry and hurt.
‘This man has been caught thanks to community action, and we must allow justice to take its course.
‘If you need to come (to Alice Springs) for sorry business, that’s fine, but just come for that and return home.
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets on the rioters outside Alice Springs hospital
Several frontline workers were injured in the chaos
‘Please. Now is not the time to be heroes on social media or to make trouble’.
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the voices calling for a stop to the unrest.
‘This is community that are hurting, that need to come together,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘There’s meetings there on the ground, as we speak right now, bringing together community leaders, the police, the health workers, the people at the hospital who had to deal with what occurred last night.
‘And we want to see the community come together, but we certainly understand people’s anger and frustration and that was expressed.’
Lewis was flown from Alice Springs to Darwin in the early hours of Friday morning in an attempt to calm the unrest.
He has been released from hospital into police custody and is expected to face charges imminently.
Cmmr Dole slammed the mob behaviour on Thursday night, describing the violence outside the hospital as unacceptable.
Kumanjayi Little Baby went missing from a camp near Alice Springs
The dead girl’s parents Raphael Granites and Jacinta White in 2013
‘Let me say that the behaviour that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted. Absolutely no excuse for violence against emergency services that are just doing their job,’ he said.
‘So for those people involved, you will face the law, just as Jefferson Lewis is facing the law, and your behaviour will not be accepted by us. I just call for calm across the community.’
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro also unleashed on the rioters.
‘We saw behaviour last night that required enormous police response and resources, and as a result of that behaviour, we saw police fires and ambulances attacked,’ she said.
‘Now, attacks on frontline workers are never acceptable, and whilst we appreciate and understand that people are very angry and grieving, there is never an excuse or an acceptability of violence as a response, and our police and our emergency services have a very important job to do, and we have to let them do that job.
‘And so we are very hopeful that that was an isolated incident. It should not define what has been an incredible community effort.’
Lewis is suspected of taking Kumanjayi Little Baby from a house at Old Timers Camp, 6km south of Alice Springs, where he was staying five days ago. Authorities had been searching for him until he was found on Thursday night.
A local told Daily Mail a group of vigilantes beat Lewis after spotting him lying low at Charles Creek Camp, located near the centre of town.
NT Police chief Martin Dole has slammed the violent behaviour
Police intervened and arrested Lewis before rushing him to Alice Springs Hospital, where he arrived before 10pm local time.
‘A group of young boys saw him walking down the street and they noticed him as the man on the news,’ the local said.
‘They ran up to him and started beating him viciously. He was trying to get under a shipping container; he might have been sleeping there or just trying to get away from the mob.
‘He has been beaten badly and is in a bad way. But this won’t be enough, people want tribal punishment and want to keep going.’
‘We had several calls that he was being assaulted at that time and we turned up and intervened in that assault and took him into custody,’ Commissioner Dole said.
More than 400 people then gathered outside the hospital, throwing rocks at the windows as the furious crowd screamed for Lewis to be brought outside.
They only dispersed when police deployed tear gas, but dozens remained on the street behind the hospital, with one woman claiming some attendees had ‘smashed a cop car up’ in retaliation. Others were seen throwing projectiles at officers.
Lewis pictured on Anzac Day, in the hours before the little girl was abducted
Lewis was sentenced to 64 months in prison, between 2016 and 2025, for offences including aggravated assaults, breaching domestic violence orders, bail and resisting police.
‘That crowd [outside Alice Springs Hospital] turned on police, throwing rocks and weapons at police,’ Commissioner Dole said.
‘Four ambulances out of the five ambulances in Alice Springs were damaged, making them inoperable.
‘One police vehicle was burnt to the ground.’
The arrest came just hours after police discovered Kumanjayi Little Baby’s remains and confirmed Lewis’s DNA was found on her clothing.
It’s understood Lewis was known to the victim’s family who have shared a tribute in the wake of her death.
‘I know you are in heaven with the rest of the family,’ her mother, Jacinta White, said in a statement.
‘Me and your brother will meet you one day. We are giving our lives to Jesus.
Police commissioner Martine Dole and Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro
‘No words can measure up to the immensity of the grief her family is going through. In their time of terrible loss, all Australians hold them in our hearts.
‘It’s going to be so hard to live the rest of our lives without you.
‘Ramsiah wants to tell you that when he sees you in heaven, he is going to give you the biggest hug ever.’
On Thursday, Mr Albanese paid tribute to Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was ‘just at the start of life’s adventure’.
‘This is the tragic outcome we were all desperately hoping against,’ Albanese wrote in a statement.
‘This is devastating for the whole Alice Springs community, which came together to find her. We wish them strength, and also to the police in their difficult work as they pursue answers and, ultimately, justice.
‘May Kumanjayi Little Baby live on in every heart she ever touched.’
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