{"id":641334,"date":"2026-04-30T21:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641334\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:05:12","slug":"alice-springs-gripped-by-violence-after-arrest-of-kumanjayi-little-babys-alleged-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/641334\/","title":{"rendered":"Alice Springs gripped by violence after arrest of Kumanjayi Little Baby’s alleged killer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild scenes have erupted on the streets of Alice Springs after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis over the alleged murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby.<\/p>\n

Tear gas has been deployed, projectiles have been thrown, and several police cars have been damaged after an angry crowd gathered at Alice Springs Hospital.<\/p>\n

Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article includes an image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.<\/p>\n

This article also contains details some readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi Little Baby vanished from a house at Old Timers town camp on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

One of the Northern Territory’s biggest-ever searches ensued to find the missing girl, but tragically, she was found dead by a police search party yesterday morning.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

The body of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was found just before midday on Thursday. (Supplied: NT Police Force)<\/p>\n

Hours after her death was announced, Mr Lewis, 47, was reportedly spotted wandering outside Charles Creek town camp near the centre of Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

It is understood he was badly beaten by a group of people in the area after being recognised as the man police were hunting over the alleged abduction and murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby.<\/p>\n

NT Police confirmed Mr Lewis had been arrested<\/a> last night and a video of the arrest, seen and verified by the ABC, showed Mr Lewis unresponsive and face down in the dirt as officers wearing gloves put handcuffs on him.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two police officers with a riot shield behind a police vehicle outside Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

He was then taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where a huge crowd of Aboriginal people gathered, yelling that Mr Lewis needed to face “payback” and accusing the police of protecting him.<\/p>\n

Many were chanting that he should be killed for his alleged attack on Kumanjayi Little Baby.<\/p>\n

“Payback” is a term for traditional punishment under Aboriginal lore in Central Australia.<\/p>\n

Crowd turns against police\"A<\/p>\n

Police were seen using pepper spray and holding positions out the front of the Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

The crowd started yelling at the officers before throwing rocks, bottles and other projectiles at the police and their vehicles.<\/p>\n

Many people filmed on their phones when rocks, a bin and large sticks were thrown at a police barricade, before police threw tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Attempts were made to set a police vehicle on fire during the incident outside Alice Springs Hospital. (ABC News: Xavier Martin\/Matthew Garrick)<\/p>\n

People attempted to set an empty police car parked on Gap Road alight and smashed it with street signs and sticks.<\/p>\n

Riot police pulled one person to the ground and used pepper spray to force the crowd backwards, away from the car.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The violence erupted after police announced they had arrested Jefferson Lewis in relation to the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

A cameraman from Channel 10 was seen being sprayed in the face.<\/p>\n

An older woman in the crowd told the ABC that Mr Lewis had to be punished for his alleged crimes.<\/p>\n

“She was an innocent little baby, so vulnerable, yet they are protecting him,” the woman said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The riot broke out hours after police arrested a man in relation to the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

“Come on, let us have him.”<\/p>\n

Another woman, who said she was related to Kumanjayi Little Baby, said she also believed the police were protecting Jefferson Lewis from traditional lore.<\/p>\n

“I am angry \u2026 for what he [allegedly] did to my little baby cousin,” she said.<\/p>\n

Harley Myers, an Arrernte man from Alice Springs, said people had gathered because they were hurt.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Arrernte man Harley Myers says people had gathered outside the hospital because they are hurt. (ABC News: Xavier Martin.)<\/p>\n

“The feeling is that [the police] are protecting this guy. They are shooting us with rubber bullets,” Mr Myers said.<\/p>\n

“It’s like the system is not sticking up for us and letting us get our own traditional payback.”<\/p>\n

“We’re united because it hurts all of us \u2026 because she was only five years old and it could happen to any of our kids.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want that to happen to any of our kids at all.”<\/p>\n

Mr Lewis is in hospital, although the extent of his injuries is unknown.<\/p>\n

NT police are yet to release any details about arrests in connection with Thursday night’s violence, but said they would provide an update today on Mr Lewis’s arrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wild scenes have erupted on the streets of Alice Springs after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24261,64,63,310469,310266,44,8867,17189],"class_list":["post-641334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alice-springs","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-jeffrey-lewis","tag-kumanjayi-little-baby","tag-news","tag-northern-territory","tag-nt-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}