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

Isla Bell, 19, whose body was found on the edge of Melbourne 18 months ago, is remembered as a loving, brave and open-hearted young woman with a green thumb and an “extraordinarily beautiful soul”.

Friends, family and supporters gathered outside the Victorian state library on Saturday to honor the teenager and protest prosecutors dropping manslaughter charges against the man accused of killing him.

The charge for Marat Ganiev, 55, who was first accused of killing Bell on Oct. 7, 2024, was reduced to involuntary manslaughter and withdrawn this week when prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence for a trial.

Instead, Ganiev was accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice, devastating Bell’s family and encouraging them to demand changes to the system intended to protect victims of crime.

Speaking at the vigil on Saturday, Bell’s mother, Justine Spokes, said of the decision: “My mind was prepared for this outcome because my expectations were low.”

“[But] I couldn’t prepare my heart for this. And they didn’t prepare my heart for this.”

Spokes described her sadness and disappointment at the legal system, which she called “sick and perverted” and “without a justice system”, and the flaws in the system designed to protect vulnerable women and girls.

But Spokes said she ultimately wanted to honor her daughter by choosing love over “everything else.”

“This is a revolving door of truly suffering men with hearts of stone and no real social consequences,” he said.

“We’re solving this problem of systemic cultural misogyny in Australia from the inside out, you know? And… the heart is the gateway.”

Spokes said she had endured “other horrors at the hands of really sick men” before the experience that resulted in her daughter’s death, but despite the pain, she “continued to share her perfectly beautiful soul.”

“See, my baby’s essence was evident everywhere he went,” Spokes said.

Bell’s remains were found inside a refrigerator at a landfill in Dandenong, south-east of Melbourne, in November 2024, about six weeks after the night police believed Bell died.

Alongside Ganiev, 59-year-old Eyal Yaffe was initially charged with aiding an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice, but prosecutors withdrew the two charges and Yaffe walked free from court.

Spokes said her daughter’s body had “all these chemicals around her,” meaning she couldn’t touch her or brush her hair one last time.

Bell’s disappearance sparked a community search that lasted weeks, but Spokes said Saturday he knew his daughter was dead the moment it happened.

He said he felt like his daughter had come to him after her death.

“He felt guilty. He thought it was his fault. And I said, ‘No, baby, it was never your fault,'” Spokes said. “And I had to let it go where it needed to go.”

Many in the crowd cried as Bell wore orange in memory of her long, vibrant hair.

Other friends and relatives also shared Bell’s memories and called for an end to “toxic masculinity” and violence against women.

Justine’s father, David, spoke with pride about his grandson’s “jewel.” She said she loved gardening so much that she carried pruning shears everywhere in her purse in case she wanted to pick up clippings.

He called on Victoria’s attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, to intervene in the case, saying the man accused of killing his grandson should be tried before a jury of his peers.

“Our motivation is not revenge or anger; our community needs to talk about justice,” he said.

“Victims and families cannot access justice in this state. The system appears to be structured to limit effective prosecution.”

Bell’s uncle Chris said at the vigil that the justice system needed a “fucking revolution”.

“I remember…the last time I saw him, he walked out the door, I gave him a hug, and he went out into the world, bravely and with an open heart, like he always did,” she said.

“She’s always swimming, Isla, we meet you, we meet the world, we meet injustice, we meet her anger, we meet her joy, and we meet every emotion she has, any person and experience, with the love in her heart.”