Port Lincoln’s AFL star Eddie Betts: ‘No kid in our mob goes without love and security’

Port Lincoln-born AFL veteran Eddie Betts has spoken on the death of a young boy there this week, clarifying that the tight-knit community would keep their doors open.

Port Lincoln’s most famous son and one of AFL’s best-loved players, Eddie Betts, says the community is rallying together after the tragic death of a 13-year-old, who was sleeping inside an industrial skip bin.

The veteran forward rejected suggestions the 13-year-old was homeless, saying no child went unloved in the tight-knit community that had been left reeling from the death of the teenager early on Tuesday morning.

“The Port Lincoln community is devastated by the death of (the boy) in such tragic and devastating circumstances,” he told The Australian.

“Being a big mob, we all know each other and care for each other and our kids’ safety is always important to us uncles, aunties and elders.

“No kid in our mob goes without love and security.”

AFL player Eddie Betts in his old hometown of Port Lincoln. Picture: Matt Turner

The boy’s family and local Aboriginal elders have requested he not be named. SA-Best MP Connie Bonaros has called for an independent inquiry into the boy’s death.

The 13-year-old and two friends, aged 11 and 12, had been sleeping in an industrial skip bin in a carpark off Napoleon Street on Monday night.

He sustained fatal injuries when a garbage truck came to collect the rubbish at about 5.20 on Tuesday morning.

One boy managed to escape as the truck lifted the bin and desperately tried to alert the driver to his sleeping friends. While the other boy escaped, the 13-year-old fell into the back of the truck and died at the scene.

Betts, who has played 132 games for Adelaide and 205 for Carlton, said the members of the community were supporting each other in the wake of the boy’s death.

“Throughout times like this, our community will rally around each other, and our youth particularly, to support them through such unimaginable grief,” he said.

“It’s important to know that in Aboriginal families we always open the door to our kids no matter what, so the reporting of (the boy) being homeless is false.”

The AFL superstar was born in Port Lincoln and his father and grandfather played football on the Eyre Peninsula.

On Wednesday, the Aboriginal flag at Lincoln Gardens Primary School, in the town’s outer south, flew at half mast in a tribute to its former pupil.

The Aboriginal flag flies at half mast at Lincoln Gardens Primary school. Picture: Robert Lang

Detectives and crime scene officers visited the boy’s home as part of the coronial investigation. They are investigating why the boy, and his two friends – neither of whom can be named – had chosen to sleep in the waste bin despite having beds “available to them”.

Police say at least one boy was reported missing hours before the accident, but the inquiry was not investigating homelessness.

A makeshift shrine of flowers, soft toys and condolence cards continued to grow at the scene of the tragedy.

Relatives described how the boy, the eldest of five boys, had a “special bond” with his siblings and shared a close relationship with wider family. He was not in state care.

Sandra Spencer, the principal of Lincoln Gardens Primary, where the boy was in Year 7, said the school was concentrating on supporting students and staff “as they process this sad news”.

“(He) was a well-liked, caring, friendly student at our school,” she told parents in a community letter.

Among those who visited the makeshift shrine yesterday was Munnalita Kojcic, 47, and her seven year-old son, Marius. “My heart just sank when I heard what happened,” she said.