An angry crowd riots outside Australian hospital treating suspect in 5-year-old girl's death

A police vehicle burns outside the Alice Springs Hospital where a man suspected of killing a five-year-old girl is under police guard in Alice Springs, Australia, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Rhett Hammerton/AAP Image via AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia — An angry crowd rioted outside an Australian Outback hospital where a man accused of killing a 5-year-old girl was treated for a vigilante beating.

The suspect, Jefferson Lewis, allegedly abducted the girl at an Indigenous community near Alice Springs in the central Australia at the weekend. The body of the girl, who is now known as Kumanjayi Little Baby because of an Indigenous ban on naming the dead, was found on Thursday.

Lewis had been beaten unconscious by a mob before police arrested him at an Indigenous community later Thursday, police said.

He was taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where hundreds of people late Thursday demanded he face so-called payback under customary law, which can involve spearing or beating.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several police vehicles were damaged.

The hospital discharged Lewis to police, who flew him to the Northern Territory capital Darwin, 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) to the north, for his own safety to be detained.

He is expected to be charged Friday.

The Associated Press