Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.
A damning report has highlighted “repeated” missed opportunities for authorities to protect a five-year-old girl who died after allegedly being snatched from her home and killed.
The body of Kumanjayi Little Baby, as she has posthumously come to be known, was found on April 30 this year, five days after she was abducted from her home in an Alice Springs town camp.
Jefferson Lewis, a distant relative of her family, stands accused of her murder and will face court at a latter date.
But a damning report has found that the girl was brought to the attention of safeguarding authorities more than a dozen times during her short life – and called for a “system-wide reset” of child protection services in the Northern Territory.
The independent review of the action of the state’s Department of Children and Families was conducted by former NSW police commissioner Karen Webb and NT public servant Greg Shanahan.
Tabled in parliament on Tuesday, the shocking report lays bare extensive systemic failings throughout Kumanjayi Little Baby’s life which left her vulnerable and at risk of harm.
More to come.