00:02A sea of orange to remember a young woman's life taken too soon.
00:07Her family speaking to hundreds of friends and supporters at a rally outside the State Library,
00:14uniting in grief and yearning for change.
00:18I didn't get to prepare Isla's body and I didn't get to smell her hair one last time.
00:25I challenge every man standing here in front of me today, be the change you want to see in the
00:32world.
00:3219-year-old Isla Bell's remains were discovered at a tip in November 2024.
00:38She was last seen alive at the home of a 55-year-old St Kilda Eastman, Murat Ghaniev.
00:45He was initially charged with murder, which was then downgraded to manslaughter
00:50before prosecutors dropped the homicide charges entirely on Tuesday,
00:56replacing them with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
01:00Today, Isla's mother called for legal system reforms and trauma-informed services for victims' families,
01:07pushing for action from Victoria's Attorney General, Sonia Kilkenny, who was also in attendance.
01:14The ball is in her court. It is time for the pendulum to swing back to support victims of violence.
01:23Isla's childhood friends remembered her as confident and creative.
01:28One of them, a law student, disgruntled with her chosen profession.
01:32It destroys all my trust in the legal system.
01:35While reflecting on the life of Isla Bell, rally attendees also held signs remembering other women whose lives were cut
01:43short.
01:43Unless we're turning up for all of them, we can't keep that pressure on our governments.
01:47We can't keep the pressure on men.
01:50A call to action for the wider community.
01:55To action for the Architecture in George Washington,
Comments