{"id":327444,"date":"2026-05-01T15:55:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=327444"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:25:37","slug":"man-who-killed-girl-5-airlifted-from-town-after-he-was-hunted-by-vigilantes-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/man-who-killed-girl-5-airlifted-from-town-after-he-was-hunted-by-vigilantes-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who ‘killed’ girl, 5, airlifted from town after he was hunted by vigilantes | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl needed to be airlifted out of a distant Australian town for his own safety during an evening of rioting on the streets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jefferson Lewis, 47, was relocated after tons of of locals clashed with police demanding \u2018payback\u2019 for the killing of the indigenous teenager, referred to by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby.<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi disappeared from a community camp in Alice Springs on Saturday night, sparking a days-long search on foot and by air that gripped much of the country.<\/p>\n

After her body was found around three miles from the camp, police named Lewis as her suspected killer and urged him to give up.<\/p>\n

He later handed himself in to Indigenous community members, who beat him unconscious while meting out \u2018vigilante justice\u2019.<\/p>\n

In an update, Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Martin Dole told reporters: \u2018He presented himself to considered one of the town camps in\u00a0Alice\u00a0Springs\u00a0last night.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Consequently of presenting himself, members of that town camp decided to inflict vigilante justice upon Jefferson.\u2019<\/p>\n

When police and emergency services intervened, they too got here under attack before Lewis was taken to hospital, Mr Dole said.<\/p>\n

He added that a big crowd of around 400 people gathered outside the hospital after which tried to force their way inside.<\/p>\n

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Kumanjayi Little Baby was allegedly murdered in Alice Springs, Australia (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Jefferson Lewis was arrested in reference to the death of the five-year-old (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Screengrab purportedly showing alleged killer Jefferson Lewis being arrested (Picture: Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A police vehicle burns after community members clashed with police outside Alice Springs Hospital (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Members of the indigenous community gather outside Alice Springs Hospital after the arrest of Jefferson Lewis (Picture: Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Footage from the ABC showed Indigenous people calling for \u2018payback\u2019, which refers to traditional, mostly physical, punishment in Aboriginal societies.<\/p>\n

Police fired tear gas to disperse the group, who threw projectiles and lit fires, injuring quite a few law enforcement officials and medical employees, and damaging police vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks.<\/p>\n

Mr Dole said: \u2018We called out all of the resources we had available to quell that violent disturbance.<\/p>\n

\u2018And just let me say that the behaviour that we saw last night can’t be explained away, excused or accepted.\u2019<\/p>\n

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A girl is carried by police during community unrest outside Alice Springs Hospital (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One woman was being investigated for allegedly attempting to set a police automotive alight.<\/p>\n

Police said they removed Lewis for his safety from hospital to the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, where he was being held in custody.<\/p>\n

He is anticipated to face charges in the approaching days.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he understood \u2018people\u2019s anger and frustration\u2019 but urged the community to return together.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Kumanjayi\u2019s death was the realisation of \u2018our worst nightmares\u2019.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless it was no excuse for violence, she said, recalling how the community had united to look for the missing child.<\/p>\n

\u2018This week, we\u2019ve seen this town come together like never before \u2013 tons of of individuals walking shoulder to shoulder through the long buffel grass, through the bush, to ensure that we left no stone unturned,\u2019 Ms Finocchiaro said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t want last night to remove from that extraordinary effort.\u2019<\/p>\n

Robin Granites, a spokesman for the family and an elder of the Warlpiri Indigenous group, called for calm locally.<\/p>\n

\u2018It’s time now for sorry business, to indicate respect for our family and have space for grieving and remembering,\u2019 he said in a press release.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have to be strong for one another, we must respect family and cultural practice.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Met chief tells Zack Polanski \u2018arresting violent criminals is a messy task\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Ex-Labour mayor helped 41-year-old son hide phone during his arrest for raping unconscious underage girl<\/span><\/p>\n

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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet browser that supports HTML5 video The prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder of a five-year-old girl needed to be airlifted out of a distant Australian town for his own safety during an evening of rioting on the streets. Jefferson Lewis, 47, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":327445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[18688,2894,44821,3026,1054,395,2739,30268,813],"class_list":["post-327444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-airlifted","tag-girl","tag-hunted","tag-killed","tag-man","tag-news","tag-town","tag-vigilantes","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327447,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327444\/revisions\/327447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}