Man charged with murder of 5-year-old near Alice Springs

Jefferson Lewis, a 47-year-old man recently released from prison, has been charged with the murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby, whose body was discovered in bushland near Alice Springs, Northern Territory, last Thursday.

Northern Territory Police announced the charges on Sunday, following a five-day search for the girl, who had gone missing from a town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs about a week earlier. Lewis faces additional charges of two counts of sexual assault. He was arrested late Thursday in an Alice Springs town camp, where locals beat him unconscious before police took him to Alice Springs Hospital. Authorities flew him to Darwin that night for his safety and to protect hospital staff amid rising tensions.

A riot erupted at the hospital as hundreds of angry residents gathered, demanding access to Lewis and immediate traditional justice. Five emergency service personnel were injured, and police vehicles and ambulances sustained damage, including one police car that was set on fire. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Separate unrest targeted a Shell service station, where closed-circuit television footage showed crowds...