Alice Springs ‘hell hole’ town camp where Sharon Granites, five, was taken

A row of empty Jim Beam bottles lines a shelf in the room where missing five-year-old Sharon Granites went to bed on a mattress on the floor on Saturday.

The child was later seen outside the house, holding hands with a criminal drifter now on the run and accused of abducting her.

On the fourth day of the frantic massive search for Sharon, Robin Granites – an interpreter, Warlpiri cultural authority and a patriarch of Sharon’s family – on Wednesday invited The Australian into the house at Old Timers town camp with the permission of the occupants.

Mr Granites wants Australians to see the reality of life for children in Alice Springs’ town camps. He wants to talk about how vulnerable they are to the strangers and even familiar faces arriving and leaving constantly, partying and ignoring rules that say town camps are alcohol-free.

Mr Granites said Sharon was asleep in the room on Saturday before 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis was seen holding her hand outside the house.

“(Sharon’s mum) was yelling out to the little girl ‘Sharon, Sharon’, she wasn’t even heard. I think she was already taken away by the bloke.”

Sharon ‘held hands’ with suspected abductor

Police say Sharon was put to bed in the room sometime before 11pm and that Lewis was seen holding her hand outside the house about 11pm. Police believe he led Sharon away from the house to an area where they have since found a distinctive yellow shirt that Lewis was wearing that evening, a child’s underwear and a doona cover.

Police spoke to Lewis at 6:45pm that evening during a mental health check. They described the scene as “a bit of a party”. Lewis – a violent criminal fresh out of jail – was staying at the house. Mr Granites said this was typical in town camps.

“It’s not a safe place,” he said. “Town camps have never been a locked gate… They are a dangerous place.”

Living among piles of rotting garbage

Mr Granites, 72, pointed out piles of rotting garbage inside and outside the houses and the many camp dogs free to roam into houses.

Looking at the room where Sharon was put to bed, he said: “It would have been a really nasty place for her to live. I would rather take her back out to the community.”

“They still think that we are an animal… If you’re a prime minister, please help.”

The room where missing five-year-old Sharon Granites was allegedly abducted from at Old Timer’s Camp in Alice Springs. Photo: Liam Mendes

A mattress in the laundry of the home Sharon Granites was living in. Photo: Liam Mendes

Outside the home at Old Timers Camp. Photo: Liam Mendes

The home of the missing girl. Photo: Liam Mendes

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a relative of Sharon, said: “These places can be hell holes.”

The article also includes a detailed Timeline of events from Lewis’s release from prison on 21 April to the ongoing search.

Source: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/grandfather-reveals-hell-hole-town-camp-where-missing-fiveyearold-was-taken/news-story/b5753305da14012f79580c0ad11a4b60