An angry crowd has clashed with police outside a hospital in Alice Springs where a 47-year-old man arrested by police in connection with the death of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby was being treated.
Council workers were assessing the damage on Friday morning, as fires smouldered in skip bins and a nearby service station had been pulled apart.
The arrest of Jefferson Lewis was confirmed in a brief statement by Northern Territory police just before 10pm local time on Thursday night.
“A short time ago, the Northern Territory police force located and arrested Jefferson Lewis at a residence in Alice Springs,” the statement said.
NT police commissioner Martin Dole told ABC TV on Friday morning that Lewis had been transported to Darwin by police air wing and was in police custody.
He said the move was not for medical reasons but “absolutely in relation to safety concerns – safety concerns for the hospital and medical staff, safety concerns for the police, and lastly safety concerns for Mr Lewis himself”.
“Our job, our police swear an oath to serve and protect, we don’t get to choose who we protect,” Dole said. “So the safety of Mr Lewis was important as well and he’s been relocated to Darwin.”
Police said a significant investigation was ongoing, including forensic testing.
Dole told Sky News he anticipated that charges will be laid “today or tomorrow”.
“I understand that people are grieving and I understand that people are upset, but please let the police do their job,” Dole told the ABC.
“I have been a police officer for 30 years and these jobs still rock you to the core. We just implore people in Alice Springs that assist us, just to reach out for that help, support one another, talk about what you went through.”
Lewis was found by members of community before police, and badly beaten, sources told Guardian Australia. Video seen by Guardian Australia shows several emergency service workers standing around a person lying on the ground, with voices shouting “don’t put him in the ambulance”. Police then took Lewis to hospital on Thursday night.
Hundreds of local people had gathered outside the hospital as news of his arrest spread, Dole confirmed on Friday.
Police vehicles and bins were set on fire, and objects were thrown at police who responded with teargas.
Dole said that as of early Friday morning, the unrest had been “quelled” and there was “a sense of calm at the moment across Alice Springs”.
A crowd of 15 community members remained outside the hospital early Friday morning, but later dispersed.
Smoke was still billowing from skip bins and bushes on the side of the road, where fire had been lit by the rioters.
Rubbish was scattered on the ground, spreading out from the hospital and into surrounding streets. A large white stain on the road marked where tear gas had been dispersed by police officers.
The Shell service station, across the road from the hospital, was extensively damaged. Every window, including the door, had been smashed, and the store appeared to have looted the night before.
Town clean up crews and council workers were assessing the damage as people made their morning commute to work, driving or walking past the place where chaos had erupted just hours earlier.
An arrest order was issued for Lewis, 47, on Sunday, after the young girl was reported missing by her mother from the Ilyperenye (Old Timers) town camp.
The body of the young Warlpiri girl was discovered by a police search and rescue team shortly before midday on Thursday, after five days of searching.
She is referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby for cultural reasons, at the request of her family.
Her mother earlier issued a statement via police, addressed to her daughter.
“I know you are in heaven with the rest of the family with Jesus and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” she said. “Me and your brother will meet you one day … It is going to be so hard to live the rest of our lives without you.”
Police said on Monday that Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother had gone to the town camp, one of 18 such places in Alice Springs, on Saturday to do her laundry in their free machines. They had stayed through the evening and Kumanjayi Little Baby was put to bed in one of the rooms before 11pm.
She was last seen by her mother at 11.30pm. At 1.30am, her mother found her missing and called the police.
Hundreds of volunteers and police officers searched a six square kilometre area of grass and scrubland around the camp, which backs on to the Todd River. A further 20km sq was searched via helicopter.
The Northern Territory chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, said the whole of the NT was grieving for the young girl.
“Every Territorian has had their heart in their throat waiting for the moment when they got the announcement that she was found safe and well, and that news did not come,” she said.