Daughter of underworld kingpin Carl Williams celebrates 21st birthday

The daughter of underworld kingpin Carl Williams has celebrated a milestone birthday, with mother Roberta paying tribute to her late husband.

The key figure at Dhakota Williams milestone birthday was missing – her underworld figure father Carl Williams was murdered when she was just 10.

But his widow and her mother, Roberta, said the 21-year-old had turned out to be everything her late father thought she would be.

“I wish your dad could see you today,” Williams said in her speech at the weekend.

Dhakota Williams with her mum Roberta at her 21st birthday party.

“He would be so proud of you because you are exactly how he dreamt you would be. Every night before you were born your dad and I would sit in your nursery talking about you and what you’d be like, and everything he said, you have grown to be.”

Australians would know Dhakota from a candid snap of her cherub face as a young girl being carried by her father during a prison visit and later, the heartbreaking image of the little child tearily clutching a photograph of the criminal kingpin at his funeral.

Her father was played by Gyton Grantley in TV drama Underbelly, based on the Melbourne gangland wars in the 90s and early 2000s. Roberta was portrayed by Kat Stewart.

Carl was murdered at Victoria’s Barwon Prison in April 2010 while serving life sentences for the murders of Jason and Lewis Moran and Mark Mallia.

Dhakota’s party was held at The Emerson in Melbourne.

The milestone birthday was celebrated with family and friends. Pictures: Instagram

Dhakota turned 21 on March 10 and she celebrated her 21st with a lavish party at Melbourne’s The Emerson, surrounded by family and friends at the weekend.

“He loved you beyond words,” Roberta said in her speech. “I’m glad you got to feel his love and I know he is with you every step of the way guiding you … your own personal angel.

Dhakota sat down with the Telegraph a week out from her birthday and said that despite her parents profile, she remembers her childhood just as any child would.

Dhakota at home with an image of her and father Carl on her wall. Picture: Alex Coppel

Carl is Dhakota’s “own personal angel”, says her mother.

A permanent shrine to her father hangs in the hallway of her Melbourne apartment – gold angel wings with a photo of Dhakota at the age of three in her fathers arms.

“For me going to visit him, I couldn’t pick any difference between him and what society classes as a ‘normal’ dad,” she said. “We would talk about school, being nice to my mum, brushing my teeth every day, literally the most normal things you can think of.”

She finished Year 12 just over two years ago and is working for the family transport business with her uncle and sister. When younger, she had dreamt of becoming a lawyer but is now planning on studying business management at university.

Originally published as Daughter of underworld kingpin Carl Williams celebrates 21st birthday