Charges are expected to be laid as early as today against the man accused of murdering a five-year-old girl in Alice Springs, following his late night arrest and the “absolute anarchy” that followed.

Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole has called for calm across the red centre, shutting down calls for traditional payback on murder suspect 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, saying there is “one law” in Australia.

“That one law applies to everybody, including the people that were involved in the violence last night,” he said.

“Mr Lewis is in police custody. There will be a prosecution commenced and the court case will proceed.

“So I’m telling the community that that’s what’s going to occur and that’s what needs to be accepted by the community.”

Lewis was arrested on Thursday night, hours after the discovery of a child’s body about 5km from where a girl disappeared near Alice Springs on Saturday night.

The discovery followed an intense five-day search for the missing five-year-old, now referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby at her family’s request, in line with cultural traditions.

Commissioner Dole confirmed Mr Lewis suffered a “sustained attack” and was unconscious when police arrived to arrest him at a town camp late on Thursday night.

“My briefing is that he presented himself to one of the town camps in Alice Springs last night,” he said on Friday morning.

“As a result of presenting himself, 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.

“We responded very quickly and we stopped that from continuing.”

Commissioner Dole said Mr Lewis had suffered “quite a severe beating”, including significant head injuries.

Footage of the arrest shows police arriving at the scene to find Mr Lewis lying face-down in the dirt unconscious. His face appears bloodied when police roll him onto his side and handcuff him.

“At the time of his apprehension by us, he was unconscious and he was in the process of being treated by St John’s Ambulance when they were set upon, as were the police,” he said.

“We conveyed Mr Lewis to the Alice Springs hospital, and shortly after, a large crowd gathered and tried to gain access to that hospital and access to Mr Lewis.

“Police responded and we called out all the resources we had available to quell that violence disturbance.”

Mr Lewis was evacuated from Alice Springs and flown to Darwin at about 3.30am as chaos erupted in the outback town.

“He was removed last night for safety concerns — safety concerns for himself and emergency services workers,” the police boss said.

“We’ll have to do those assessments later. He’s now in police custody and I don’t envisage that he’s going to be out anytime soon.

“He’s been given a fit for custody ... so his injuries aren’t significant enough to keep him in hospital.”

This comes as hundreds of people rioted outside Alice Springs Hospital where the accused was being treated, in scenes Commissioner Dole has described as “absolute anarchy”.

“Large crowds gathered at the hospital, up to about 400 people, and attempted to gain entry to get to Mr Lewis,” Commissioner Dole said.

“It really descended into absolute anarchy.”

Commissioner Dole said the violence against emergency services overnight was “unacceptable”.

“My thoughts are with the police officers, the ambulance officers, and the fire and rescue officers that were injured last night in the unacceptable behavior that we saw carried out at the Alice Springs hospital,” he said.

“And just let me say that the behavior that we saw last night cannot be explained away, excused or accepted.

“There is absolutely no excuse for violence against emergency services that are just doing their job.”

Commissioner Dole said multiple emergency services personnel were injured overnight.

“A police officer that responded to the assault and the arrest of Jefferson Lewis had to be treated and receive stitches for a head wound,” he said.

“A Northern Territory Fire and Rescue officer received a significant facial injury and had to be treated at the hospital and several ambulance officers were also attacked and received soft tissue injuries as a result of that violence.”

Commissioner Dole said police resources were already stretched in searching for the little girl and her alleged abductor, before violence erupted on Thursday night.

“Our resources for five days now have been stretched, working 24 hours a day to bring resolution to this, and now to divert those resources to having to investigate senseless violence against emergency services is just something that isn’t required,” he said.

Last night police were forced to form a line to block access to the hospital as tensions outside escalated, with the crowd demanding Lewis be handed over to face community justice.

The situation turned violent, with those outside the hospital hurling rocks, bricks and other projectiles at police.

Police vehicles were smashed, jumped on and set alight during the chaos.

“We lost one police vehicle,” Commissioner Dole said.

“We had three or four police vehicles significantly damaged.

“Three, four of the five ambulances available in Alice Springs were taken out of action and damaged, and fire and rescue vehicles were also damaged.”

The service station across the road from the hospital was also destroyed and looted.

The unrest lasted for several hours, with police deploying tear gas and firing rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of about 400 people.

The Territory’s top cop said there would be consequences for those involved in the violence with one rioter arrested so far and more charges are expected.

“There was one arrest of a female that was attempting to set fire to one of our police traffic sedans. She’s in custody at the moment and is being investigated for attempted arson,” he said.

“I do believe there will be further arrests made today as we identify those behaving in that conduct last night.

“So for those people involved, you will face the law just as Jefferson Lewis is facing the law, and your behavior will not be accepted by us.

“I just call for calm across the community today.”

Commissioner Dole said there would also be charges for anyone who helped Mr Lewis evade police.

“It’s quite clear to us that somebody knew where he was or somebody was assisting him, for him to be able to appear in Alice Springs last night,” he said.

“It just confirms to us that he was getting support from somebody.

“My message to those people is look out because we’re coming for you as well.”

Meanwhile, Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family is in mourning.

“As you would expect, they’re still devastated,” Commissioner Dole said.

“I mean, yesterday was the worst case scenario.

“Nobody wanted that outcome and obviously we’ve wrapped around them and we’re continuing to support them through the rest of the process.”

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said “all of our worst nightmares had come true” when police discovered the body of Kumanjayi Little Baby just before noon on Thursday but “attacks on frontline workers are never acceptable”.

“Late last night, police were able to arrest the suspect, which was incredibly relieving news for every single Territorian and, of course, the family,” she said.

“And then what happened last night is we saw rioting behaviour that required enormous police response and resources and as a result of that behaviour, we saw police, fireys and ambulances attacked.

“Whilst we appreciate and understand that people are very angry and grieving, there is never an excuse or an acceptability of violence as a response”.

Mrs Finocchiaro said police and emergency services have an important job to do.

“We are very hopeful that that was an isolated incident and should not define what has been an incredible community effort this week,” she said.

“And now, of course, the very important police work continues and we have to let our police do that work.”

As a response to last night’s riots, Mrs Finocchiaro has slapped a booze ban on the outback town.

“It’s very, very important and will bring important reprieve to the community and our frontline workers,” she said.

Takeaway alcohol has been banned in Alice Springs on Friday and sales will be limited on Saturday as authorities attempt to quell the unrest.

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