Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
15-08-2026
SYDNEY: Mourners gathered in Australia’s Alice Springs on Saturday to bid farewell to a five-year-old Indigenous girl whose death in April shocked the nation and sparked violent clashes in the outback town.
The killing of Kumanjayi Little Baby, the name by which the victim is known according to Indigenous custom and the subsequent arrest of the suspect after he was found and beaten by locals, prompted unrest in the town of 25,000 people about 1,250 km (776 miles) south of Northern Territory capital Darwin.
On Saturday, mourners, many wearing Kumanjayi Little Baby’s favorite color pink, arrived on the outskirts of the town at its Garden Cemetery for her funeral service, Australian Broadcasting Corporation footage showed.
The little girl’s coffin, covered in flowers, arrived in the back of a black hearse for the service, which local media said was attended by hundreds.
Since her death, the local community, of which about a fifth is Indigenous, has been conducting “sorry business”, the mourning period and cultural practices that occur after an Indigenous person dies.
Thousands of Indigenous people, including the victim’s family, live in camp communities on the outskirts of Alice Springs, where housing and services are often inadequate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the days after the killing, urged territory authorities to do more to ensure that living conditions in the camps are improved.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with the girl’s murder and two other offences, which cannot be publicly disclosed for legal reasons.
On 30th April, the Australian police said they have found a body believed to be that of a missing five-year-old Indigenous girl and were searching for the man who allegedly murdered her.
The girl, now referred to by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby in line with Indigenous customs, was reported missing from her home in a remote community in central Australia late on Saturday.
Police said they located a body of a young Indigenous girl they believed was her shortly before midday on Thursday about 5 km (3 miles) south of the original crime scene.
News of Kumanjayi Little Baby’s disappearance has made national headlines and hundreds of people have been involved in land and air searches across harsh desert terrain in the Alice Springs region.
“Our hearts are broken that the case of the little girl missing in Alice Springs has had such a tragic ending,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on social media.
“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.”
Police said the prime suspect was 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, who had been recently released from prison and was in the area at the time of her disappearance.
“The focus right now is to locate Jefferson Lewis. It is our sole job in this investigation right now,” Northern Territory Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Malley said at a news conference.
“I say to the family of Jefferson Lewis that we believe he’s murdered this child. Do not assist him. Get him to the police station and we’ll look after him.”
“And I say to Jefferson Lewis, we’re coming for you.”
Malley said police had seized items from the crime scene, including a pair of child’s underwear. Forensic testing of the underwear detected DNA profiles belonging to Kumanjayi Little Baby and Lewis. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
