hundreds of people rioted<\/a> outside the hospital in an attempt to “get to Jefferson Lewis”.<\/p>\nTear gas was deployed, projectiles were thrown at officers, and a police vehicle was torched.<\/p>\n
Two officers, two paramedics and a firefighter were injured.<\/p>\n
The man arrested over the killing of a five-year-old girl has been flown out of an outback town after a crowd angry at the accused murderer clashed with police. (Source: Nine)<\/p>\n
Senior Warlpiri elder and family spokesperson Robin Granites said he understood that people were angry but urged the community to let justice take its course.<\/p>\n
“What has happened this week is not our way,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“Our children are precious, of course we are feeling angry and hurt at what has happened.<\/p>\n
“It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering.”<\/p>\n
Lewis was found at a town camp about 10.30pm on Thursday, when he identified himself to people and was beaten by vigilantes.<\/p>\n
He was unconscious when police arrived, and emergency services were attacked when they tried to arrest him.<\/p>\n
![\"Jefferson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sharon-granites-UI7C4FV4ANB7RIVKQRVZN4CTKI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jefferson Lewis. (Source: NT Police) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
“The behaviour that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted,” Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole said.<\/p>\n
“There is absolutely no excuse for violence against emergency services that are just doing their job.”<\/p>\n
Lewis was airlifted to Darwin in the early hours of Friday.<\/p>\n
His injuries were not severe enough for him to be kept in hospital, police said.<\/p>\n
He is expected to be charged in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Granites asked people in bush communities to carefully consider their need to travel to Alice Springs.<\/p>\n
“If you need to come to join sorry business, that’s fine. But just come for that, then return home please,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Now is not the time to be heroes on social media or make trouble.”<\/p>\n
Alice Springs community Elders also fronted the media in a bid to ease tensions after the community erupted in violence the same week it had banded together to search for the little girl.<\/p>\n
“That hard work was undone last night by some people who were very angry with the system … the same system that creates safety,” Michael Liddle said.<\/p>\n
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the community was angry and grieving, but there was “never an excuse” for a violent response.<\/p>\n
![\"Kumanjayi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kumanjayi-little-baby-ZQAD26WOIRA5VOQJXD73PSBBOY.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Kumanjayi Little Baby. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
The body of Kumanjayi Little Baby was found about noon on Thursday, five kilometres from the Old Timers Aboriginal Camp near Alice Springs where she was last seen.<\/p>\n
It was the fifth day of a search which marked one of the NT’s biggest investigations.<\/p>\n
Alice Springs Mayor Asta Hill said the feeling in the community was “raw grief”, urging people not to put others at risk.<\/p>\n
Takeaway alcohol sales will be limited on Saturday as authorities attempt to stem further unrest.<\/p>\n
The hunt has begun for rioters, with one woman arrested on Friday for attempting to torch a police vehicle.<\/p>\n
Police were also looking for people they believed sheltered Lewis over recent days.<\/p>\n
“My message to those people is, look out, because we’re coming for you as well,” Dole said.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed condolences to the girl’s family.<\/p>\n
“It breaks your heart,” \ufeffhe told reporters in Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a five-year-old girl allegedly murdered by a recently released prisoner has called for calm following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-407623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}