Killing of Sharon Granites

Kumanjayi Little Baby was a Warlpiri girl who was five years old at the time of her death.^[2] Her original name, Sharon Granites, has been replaced with Kumanjayi in accordance with Warlpiri cultural practices while grieving.^[3] According to relatives, she was unable to talk and communicated mostly through hand gestures.^[4]

Kumanjayi was from a large and well-known Central Australian family, with her extended family including Robin Granites Japanangka and other contemporary Indigenous Australian artists,^[5] as well as politicians Bess Price and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.^[4][6] After her death her family requested that she be referred to as "Kumanjayi Little Baby" in accordance with cultural practices for the deceased.^[7]

Kumanjayi was raised by a single mother and extended family after her father was imprisoned. They moved frequently before settling at the Ilyperenye Old Timers, a town camp on the southern outskirts of Alice Springs. The condition of housing at the camp was poor, with limited services available and residences shared between extended family members.^[8][9]

Kumanjayi was reported missing at 1:30 am on 26 April 2026. Witnesses subsequently reported that she had last been seen at 11 pm on 25 April holding hands with Jefferson Lewis, a member of her extended family who had been staying in the same residence at Ilyperenye Old Timers.^[8]

Kumanjayi's disappearance sparked extensive search efforts by the Northern Territory Police and around 300 volunteers,^[8] with around 5 square kilometres (1.9 mi²) covered on foot and 80 square kilometres (31 mi²) covered by vehicle and air.^[10] Police initially believed Kumanjayi may have been abandoned in bushland after her abduction.^[11] Later on 26 April, police located Lewis's shirt, children's underwear, and a doona cover in the dry bed of the Todd River. A crime scene was declared at the site and an order was issued for Lewis's arrest.^[8] Forensic testing found traces of both Kumanjayi' and Lewis's DNA on the underwear.^[11]

On 30 April 2026, police announced that Kumanjayi's body had been found by a search party.^[12] A cause of death was not initially reported but police were treating her death as a homicide.^[13]

The search for Lewis was reportedly one of the Northern Territory Police's biggest manhunts.^[14] It was hampered by his lack of a digital footprint, with police doorknocking areas in Alice Springs and searching other remote communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It was reported that he may have been assisted in evading police by family members.^[11]

On 30 April, following the discovery of Kumanjayi's body, Lewis was located at the Charles Creek town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs. A group of residents beat him; he reportedly received an extensive head injury and was rendered unconscious.^[15] Martin Dole, the Northern Territory police commissioner, stated that "members of that town camp decided to inflict vigilante justice upon Jefferson and we received numerous phone calls saying he was in the process of being assaulted".^[16] Emergency services arrived at the camp and he was moved to an ambulance with assistance from police, subsequently being driven to Alice Springs Hospital.^[15] The police and ambulance officers who attended the arrest were attacked, with around 200 people in attendance.^[16]

After Lewis's arrest, a crowd of around 400 people gathered outside of Alice Springs Hospital, reportedly demanding that Lewis be surrendered for "payback" under customary law. Lewis was subsequently transferred to Royal Darwin Hospital for his own safety,^[16] after being beaten unconscious by a group of men.^[17]

At Alice Springs Hospital, members of the crowd threw rocks, bottles and other projectiles at the police and their vehicles.^[16] A police car was set on fire and four out of five ambulances at the hospital were rendered inoperable.^[15] Rioting reportedly lasted for five hours.^[14] The scene was attended by riot police who used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.^[16] Rioting subsequently spread elsewhere in Alice Springs, with a nearby service station ransacked and looted, and multiple fires lit in bushland and skip bins.^[18] The cost of the damages was $200,000.^[19]

The following day, Kumanjayi's family appealed for calm, saying that justice would be served by the police and judicial system.^[17]

Jefferson Lewis is a Warlpiri man who was 47 years old at the time of Kumanjayi's death. He was originally from the remote community of Lajamanu, Northern Territory.^[5] His wife and children lived in Balgo, Western Australia.^[7] He had previously worked as an Indigenous ranger under a Central Land Council scheme.^[20]

Lewis had an extensive criminal record and had been imprisoned multiple times in the past decade for serious assaults and domestic violence-related offences, although with no prior convictions for offences against children.^[7] He was released from prison six days before Kumanjayi's abduction, after being sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in October 2024 for aggravated assault, domestic violence offences, and breaching bail. His prison sentence was subsequently extended by three months on separate convictions of contravening a domestic violence order and resisting police. Lewis's earlier prison sentences included 12 months in 2016 for aggravated assault, 19 months in 2018 for aggravated assault and other charges, and 11 months in 2022 for aggravated assault.^[9]

After being released from prison, Lewis was directed to join family members in Lajamanu, with a request to live in Yuendumu reportedly being denied over concerns from community members. He instead travelled to Alice Springs to stay with extended family at the Ilyperenye Old Timers camp.^[7] He stayed in several different dwellings at the camp.^[9] According to residents of the camp, he had acted "strangely" in the days prior to the incident, and was unusually quiet, also drinking heavily.^[7]