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Vigils After Death
Australians gathered across the country for vigils honoring Kumanjayi Little Baby, a five-year-old Indigenous girl whose alleged abduction and murder shocked the nation and sparked riots in Alice Springs.
“across Australia to hold vigils”
Reuters reported that mourners would gather “across Australia to hold vigils” for the child, whose body was found after a five-day search involving hundreds of volunteers and police.
The BBC said the girl’s mother read a statement at a candle-lit vigil in Alice Springs, saying, “She was my little princess.”
The vigils also followed Kumanjayi Little Baby’s disappearance from the Old Timers Camp on 25 April, with her body discovered on 30 April.
Riots, Arrest, Transfer
The death of Kumanjayi Little Baby led to violent clashes in Alice Springs after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis, with a crowd of 400 Indigenous people gathering to demand “payback.”
Reuters described the subsequent arrest as triggering “violent clashes in Alice Springs,” and said police on Sunday charged Jefferson Lewis, 47, with her murder and two other offences that cannot be publicly disclosed for legal reasons.
The BBC reported that Lewis, who had been attacked by community members, was arrested and taken to a hospital in Alice Springs for treatment, where “a riot erupted outside the hospital.”
Cadena 3 Argentina said authorities fired rubber bullets and used tear gas to disperse the crowd, and that Lewis was then taken to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, for security reasons during detention.
Investigation and Suspects
While Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case prompted nationwide mourning, another missing-child investigation in Australia continued to focus on family accounts and police scrutiny.
“Darren Fielke, the police commissioner”
Parismatch reported that investigators indicated that a family member whose account was inconsistent is suspected in the disappearance of August “Gus” Lamont, a four-year-old child missing since September 27.
Parismatch quoted police commissioner Darren Fielke saying investigators had uncovered inconsistencies in the accounts of one person about the day Gus disappeared, and it said the boy’s first grandmother was the last person to have seen him as he played in the sand in front of the house.
The same report said a person living at Oak Park Station withdrew support from police and is no longer cooperating, and that the parents are not suspects in Gus’s disappearance.