Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned the following article contains names and images of the deceased.
The grieving family of a small girl believed to have been abducted and killed by a man known to them have moved out of their home, never to return.
Dozens of floral tributes have been left for five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby near her family’s home on Marshall Ct in Old Timers Camp, Alice Springs, where she is understood to have been taken in the early hours of Sunday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Family’s heartbreaking move after little girl’s suspected murder
A desperate search followed over the following days which ended with her body being found just before midday on Thursday, about 5km from where she went missing.
Kumanjayi Little Baby’s grandmother, Karen White, said their home of seven years now carries too much emotional weight to live in.
“It’s too much. I cannot go back there. I never can again,” she told Daily Mail.
“She was just so beautiful and such a good girl and I miss her.”
White said she and the girl’s mother Jacinta will permanently return to their hometown of Yuendumu.
For now, White and her grandson are staying with friends while Jacinta has reportedly moved into a safe house.
Police are expected to charge Jefferson Lewis, 47, over her abduction and death on Saturday. He was airlifted to Darwin for for safety reasons after vigilantes attacked him on Thursday night.
He was first rushed to an Alice Springs Hospital, prompting hundreds of people to riot over his protective treatment.
Aboriginal Elder Michael Liddle said the unrest was an explosion of rage that ignored the consequences and undermined the community’s united response to the girl’s disappearance.
“What took place yesterday was an incident of anger that turned into violence that had no thinking about the consequence,” the Alyawarre man told reporters on Friday.
“All week, the community of Alice Springs come together ... searching for a little lady, a little baby that was taken by a monster, and that hard work was undone last night by some people who are very angry with the systems.”
Four ambulances were taken off the road and crews went into lockdown for about five hours as the riot escalated outside Alice Springs hospital.
“If you had a bleed out or you had a heart attack in that time, you couldn’t call the ambulances,” Mr Liddle said.
Take-away alcohol sales will be limited in the area in response to the outbreak of violence on Thursday night.
The family of the five-year-old girl called for calm, asking people to let justice take its course.
“What has happened this week is not our way,” senior Warlpiri elder and family spokesman Robin Granites said in a statement.
“Our children are precious - of course we are feeling angry and hurt at what has happened.
“It is time now for sorry business, to show respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering.”
- With AAP
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