Northern Territory Police reveals details about what vigilante mob did to five-year-old’s suspected killer and paramedics who tried to revive him – as officials ban alcohol

Commissioner Martin Dole said paramedics trying to revive Lewis after he was found by the mob also came under attack and had to be rescued by police.

He said police resources had already been stretched in the manhunt for Lewis and the girl before her body was found 5km south of Alice Springs on Thursday.

‘Now to divert those resources to having to investigate senseless violence against emergency services is just something that isn’t required,’ he said.

Lewis, 47, was taken to Alice Springs Hospital by police where he was treated for a head wound before the furious mob then descended on the medical facility.

Police had to use tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against the crowd which also set a police vehicle ablaze. 

Commissioner Martin Dole said paramedics trying to revive Lewis after he was found by the mob also came under attack and had to be rescued by police.

He said police resources had already been stretched in the manhunt for Lewis and the girl before her body was found 5km south of Alice Springs on Thursday.

‘Now to divert those resources to having to investigate senseless violence against emergency services is just something that isn’t required,’ he said.

Lewis, 47, was taken to Alice Springs Hospital by police where he was treated for a head wound before the furious mob then descended on the medical facility.

Police had to use tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against the crowd which also set a police vehicle ablaze. 

Commissioner Dole said several police officers were injured, along with a Northern Territory Fire and Rescue officer who received a significant facial injury requiring treatment. 

‘Several ambulance officers were also attacked and received soft tissue injuries,’ he said.

One woman was arrested and is being investigated for attempted arson, and it’s expected more arrests will follow on Friday.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said alcohol sales in the city will be paused on Friday in an attempt to quell the violence.

This comes as Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family released a statement via elder Robin Granites – the child’s grandfather – who pleaded with the Indigenous community to allow justice to take its course.

‘Everyone is feeling upset and emotions are high,’ he said.

‘I understand that what happened this week is not our way.  Our children are precious. Of course we are feeling angry and hurt.

‘This man has been caught thanks to community action, and we must allow justice to take its course.

If you need to come (to Alice Springs) for sorry business, that’s fine, but just come for that and return home. 

‘Please. Now is not the time to be heroes on social media or to make trouble’. 

Lewis was sentenced to 64 months in prison, between 2016 and 2025, for offences including aggravated assaults, breaching domestic violence orders, bail and resisting police. 

On Friday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also called for the unrest to stop. 

‘This is community that are hurting, that need to come together,’ Mr Albanese said.

‘There’s meetings there on the ground, as we speak right now, bringing together community leaders, the police, the health workers, the people at the hospital who had to deal with what occurred last night.

‘And we want to see the community come together, but we certainly understand people’s anger and frustration and that was expressed.’

Lewis was flown from Alice Springs to Darwin in the early hours of Friday morning in an attempt to calm the violence. 

He has been released from hospital into police custody and is expected to be charged in the coming hours.

Lewis is suspected to taking Kumanjayi Little Baby from a house at Old Timers Camp, 6km south of Alice Springs, where he was staying five days ago. Authorities had been searching for him until he was found on Thursday night.

A local told Daily Mail a group of vigilantes beat Lewis after spotting him lying low at Charles Creek Camp, located near the centre of town.

‘A group of young boys saw him walking down the street and they noticed him as the man on the news,’ the local said.

‘They ran up to him and started beating him viciously. He was trying to get under a shipping container; he might have been sleeping there or just trying to get away from the mob.

‘He has been beaten badly and is in a bad way. But this won’t be enough, people want tribal punishment and want to keep going.’

Police intervened and arrested Lewis before rushing him to the hospital. 

More than 400 people then gathered outside the building, throwing rocks at the windows as the furious crowd screamed for Lewis to be brought outside.

They only dispersed when police deployed tear gas, but dozens remained on the street behind the hospital, with one woman claiming some attendees had ‘smashed a cop car up’ in retaliation. Others were seen throwing projectiles at officers.