Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family calls for calm following Alice Springs riots

Community leaders are calling for calm following rioting outside the Alice Springs Hospital on Thursday. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

In short:

Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family say “now is not the time to be heroes on social media or make trouble” following rioting in Alice Springs on Thursday night.
It comes as Northern Territory (NT) Police Commissioner Martin Dole revealed her alleged killer, 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, was beaten unconscious in a “sustained attack” before his arrest.
Commissioner Dole says all those involved in the violence “will face the law just as Jefferson Lewis is facing the law”.

This article contains content some readers may find distressing.

Kumanjayi Little Baby’s kinship grandfather has called for calm on behalf of her family after rioting broke out in Alice Springs on Thursday night following the arrest of the five-year-old’s alleged murderer.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.

Senior Warlpiri Elder Robin Japanangka Granites today joined Northern Territory (NT) Police Commissioner Martin Dole and Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro in pleading with community members to reduce tensions.

It also comes after Commissioner Dole revealed the man expected to be charged with Kumanjayi’s murder, Jefferson Lewis, had been subjected to a “sustained attack” before his arrest on Thursday night.

Robin Granites said the violence that erupted following the arrest of Jefferson Lewis “is not our way”. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

Granites said while he understood emotions were running high, “Now is not the time to be heroes on social media or make trouble”.

“It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering,” he said.

“What has happened this week is not our way.

“Our children are precious, of course, we are feeling angry and hurt at what has happened.

Five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was allegedly abducted and killed after disappearing from a town camp in Alice Springs last weekend. PH๏τo: ABC News / supplied

“This man has been caught, thanks to community action, and we must now let justice take its course while we take the time to mourn Kumanjayi Little Baby and support our family.”

Suspect beaten unconscious, ‘payback’ calls rejected

Addressing the media this morning, Commissioner Dole said police and paramedics had been ᴀssaulted by vigilantes during Lewis’s arrest.

“He presented himself to one of the town camps in Alice Springs last night,” he said.

“As a result of presenting himself, members of that town camp decided to inflict vigilante justice on Jefferson.”

Jefferson Lewis is in police custody after being flown to Darwin from Alice Springs. He is expected to be charged with Kumanjayi’s murder. PH๏τo: Supplied / Northern Territory Police Force

Commissioner Dole said other residents of the Charles Creek town camp had called police to report the attack, and officers quickly intervened to take him into custody.

“At the time of his apprehension by us, he was unconscious, and he was in the process of being treated by St John Ambulance when they were set upon, as were the police,” he said.

“He’s been given a fit for custody, has been released from NT Health, and he’s with the NT Police in our custody, so his injuries are not significant enough to keep him in hospital.”

About 400 rioters gathered outside the hospital, with some demanding Jefferson Lewis be handed over for traditional “payback”. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

Commissioner Dole said those involved in the ᴀssault on Lewis, along with around 400 rioters demanding “payback” outside Alice Springs Hospital last night, could expect to face the full force of the law.

“There’s one law,” he said.

“That law applies to everybody, including the people that were involved in the violence last night.

“Now Lewis is in police custody, there will be a prosecution commenced, and the court case will proceed.

Martin Dole said all those involved in the violence “will face the law just as Jefferson Lewis is facing the law”. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

“That’s what needs to be accepted by the community.”

‘Be strong for each other’

On behalf of Kumanjayi’s family, Granites asked residents in bush communities to carefully consider their need to travel to Alice Springs in the wake of the tragedy.

“If you need to come to join sorry business, that’s fine,” he said.

“But just come for that, then return home, please.

“We must be mindful Mparntwe is traditional country for Central Arrernte, and East and Western Arrernte as well – we must respect that and their ways.

“We need to be strong for each other, we must respect family and cultural practice. This is the Yapa [Warlpiri] way.”

Aboriginal leaders in Alice Springs joined those calling for calm, with Michael Liddle, the manager of local Aboriginal health service, Congress, reminding residents of how they had all come together to search for Kumanjayi Little Baby.

Police said officers were injured and emergency services vehicles damaged during rioting outside the Alice Springs Hospital on Thursday night. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

“And that hard work was undone last night by some people who were very angry with the systems – the same systems that create safety and less harm, keeping people safe in Alice Springs,” he said.

Liddle said the rioting was an “incident of anger that turned into violence that had no thinking about the consequence”, in which emergency services personnel were injured and their vehicles damaged.

“When you take those services out, you’ve got a scenario of no rules, of no laws, and people become hurt, and if they’re hurt, who is going to protect?” he said.

Several emergency services vehicles were taken out of action after being damaged by rioters. PH๏τo: ABC News / Xavier Martin

“In regard to the ambulance service, four ambulances were taken off the road last night, and the ambulance workers went on lockdown for five hours, so if you had a bleed out or you had a heart attack in that time, you couldn’t call the ambulance.”

Responding to calls for traditional “payback” from some of those rioting, Liddle said what happened outside the hospital was not payback.

“Traditional payback is just that, it’s carefully constructed and carried out,” he said.

“I think bringing the word ‘payback’ into this scenario just fuels violence.

“There’s a system set up here, where there is a person in custody, and the Western rules will deal with that person.”

Baydon Williams, Cedric Miller, Warren Williams and Michael Liddle with NT Police regional controller James Gray-Spence on Friday. PH๏τo: ABC News / Matthew Garrick

Traditional owner Cedric Miller, who works with men who commit domestic violence, called for changes to how the government manages newly released prisoners.

Miller said they would be able to access more support if they were released back into their home communities.

“For our men who get locked up in jail, when they get released from prison, where do they go? They go back to the society, back to this town,” he said.

“We’d like to see this government changing things, prison rules, [so] when you come out of prison, you’ve got to go straight back to your [own] community.”

In response to the unrest, authorities have banned takeaway alcohol in the town today, and tomorrow sales will be limited to between 11am and 2pm.

No stone left unturned

Finocchiaro said there was “never an excuse or an acceptability of violence”, while emphasising the extraordinary efforts by community members in helping to find Kumanjayi.

“We are very hopeful that [last night’s unrest] was an isolated incident and should not define what has been an incredible community effort this week,” she said.

Lia Finocchiaro said she does not want the unrest that followed Jefferson Lewis’s arrest to detract from the “incredible community effort” to find Kumanjayi. PH๏τo: ABC News / Chris Marrkarany Fitzpatrick

“We’ve seen this town come together like never before, hundreds of people walking shoulder to shoulder through the long buffel grᴀss, through the bush, to make sure we left no stone unturned.

“I don’t want last night to take away from that extraordinary effort that we have seen.”