Mourners march to Parliament House in honour of Jayda Allen Bonner

An Indigenous smoking ceremony will be held in Melbourne on Saturday evening to honour 21-year-old Jayda Allen Bonner, allegedly killed in an inner-city apartment a week ago, with mourners then marching to Parliament House to protest against gendered violence.

The ceremony will take place outside a public housing tower on Lygon Street in Carlton, near the Cardigan Street apartment complex where Ms Allen Bonner, a proud Yuggera woman, was found dead by emergency services just before 2am last Saturday.

Liban Ali, 31, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday evening charged with her murder after presenting himself to a police station early on Tuesday. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to next face court in March. Police believe Ali and Ms Allen Bonner were known to one another.

Lead detective Senior Constable Darren Bolitho told the court investigators face months of CCTV footage to analyse, with allegations of protracted violence and post-offence conduct, alongside complex autopsy and blood pattern analysis.

A separate 60-year-old man arrested shortly after the incident was released pending further enquiries.

Anti-family violence campaigner Sherele Moody, who runs the Australian Femicide Watch, said 55 women have been killed due to gendered violence in Australia this year, a figure she warned could reach 80 by year-end.

A fundraiser to cover funeral costs and bring family from Queensland to say their goodbyes has raised more than $7,000 in 24 hours. Ms Allen Bonner’s family said she was “a caring, loving young woman with a heart of gold and so much life ahead of her”.

Source URLs: https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/tributes-grow-for-deeply-loved-woman-allegedly-killed | https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/accused-killer-faces-court-after-young-woman-found-dead