Teenager Isla Bell’s body was found in a Melbourne tip 18 months ago. Today friends and family demanded ‘justice’

Isla Bell, the 19-year-old whose body was found in a Melbourne tip 18 months ago, has been remembered as a loving, courageous and open-hearted young woman with a green thumb and an “exquisitely beautiful soul”. Friends, family and supporters gathered outside the Victorian state library on Saturday to honour the teenager and protest against prosecutors dropping a manslaughter charge against the man who had been accused of killing her. Marat Ganiev, 55, who was originally charged with murdering Bell on 7 October 2024, had his charge downgraded to manslaughter and, this week, withdrawn, with prosecutors saying they had insufficient evidence for a trial. Ganiev has instead been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, devastating Bell’s family and prompting them to demand changes to the system meant to protect victims of crime. Justine Spokes, the mother of Isla Bell, outside the State Library Victoria in Melbourne. Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP “My mind was prepared for that outcome, because my expectations were low,” Bell’s mother, Justine Spokes, said of the decision as she addressed the vigil on Saturday. “[But] I just couldn’t prepare my heart for that. And they didn’t prepare my heart for that.” Spokes spoke of her grief and frustration with the legal system – which she called “sick and perverted” and “not a justice system” – and the flaws in the system designed to protect vulnerable women and girls. …