SYDNEY, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Mourners gathered in Australia’s Northern Territory capital Alice Springs on Saturday to bid farewell to a five-year-old Indigenous girl whose death in April shocked the nation and sparked violent clashes in the outback town.
The killing of Kumanjayi Little Baby — the name by which the victim is known according to Indigenous custom — and the subsequent arrest of the suspect after he was found and beaten by locals, prompted unrest in the town of 25,000 people about 1,250 km (776 miles) south of territory capital Darwin.
On Saturday, mourners, many wearing Kumanjayi Little Baby’s favourite colour pink, arrived on the outskirts of the town at its Garden Cemetery for her funeral service, Australian Broadcasting Corporation footage showed.
The little girl’s coffin, covered in flowers, arrived in the back of a black hearse for the service, which local media said was attended by hundreds.
Since her death, the local community, of which about a fifth is Indigenous, has been conducting “sorry business”, the mourning period and cultural practices that occur after an Indigenous person dies.
Thousands of Indigenous people, including the victim’s family, live in camp communities on the outskirts of Alice Springs, where housing and services are often inadequate.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the days after the killing, urged territory authorities to do more to ensure that living conditions in the camps are improved.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with the girl’s murder and two other offences, which cannot be publicly disclosed for legal reasons.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Tom Hogue)
