‘What does this say to women?’: Mum, friends bereft as charges dropped over Isla Bell’s death

Isla Bell’s mother says she feels discarded like her daughter’s body was, and her grandfather has called on the state attorney-general to intervene after charges against the 19-year-old’s alleged killer were dropped on Tuesday.

Prosecutors informed the Supreme Court of Victoria that a manslaughter charge would be dropped against the man who had been accused of killing the Melbourne teenager, whose disappearance galvanised a community-wide search in 2024.

Marat Ganiev, 55, had been charged with the manslaughter of Bell, whose decomposing remains were found in a refrigerator at a Dandenong rubbish tip on November 20, 2024, six weeks after she went missing.

Prosecutors originally alleged Ganiev murdered Bell at a St Kilda East apartment in the early hours of October 7, 2024, less than 48 hours after they met. But prosecutors said on Tuesday his charge would now be downgraded to perverting the course of justice.

Eyal Yaffe, who had been accused of perverting the course of justice by helping Ganiev dispose of Bell’s body, had all charges against him dropped on Tuesday and walked free.

“You may as well have just chucked me out in the bin with my daughter,” Bell’s mother, Justine Spokes, told The Age of the decision, which she had been warned was imminent but had been struggling to accept.

“My expectations in our legal system were low, but not low enough. Truth and justice are omitted.”

Spokes is dismayed that Yaffe – who was granted bail on a $20,000 surety in November 2024 and had been required to wear an ankle bracelet and remain in Melbourne – would face no further prosecution over her daughter’s death.

Police previously alleged Yaffe moved a fridge containing Bell’s body to a number of addresses in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, including Hampton and Caulfield South, before the teen’s remains were later discovered at the tip.

Spokes said the handling of the case left her feeling like victims and their loved ones were abandoned by the system.

“The community should have a chance to have a say. With no review process available, this does not meet community expectations,” she said.

She said she was told by the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) that there was a strong case against Ganiev and Yaffe, and they, Spokes said, had “confidence in the charge of manslaughter [against Ganiev] up until four days ago”.

“Where is the integrity of our state justice system?” she said.

At an October 2025 court hearing before a magistrate, a forensic pathologist said he had been unable to determine the cause of Bell’s death, or tell when numerous lacerations, superficial injuries and fractures to her skull and ribs were caused.

An OPP spokeswoman said on Tuesday that the charges were withdrawn due to “insufficient evidence” to support the charges.

Bell’s grandfather, David Spokes, said the justice system was “hard-wired to limit effective prosecution”.

“All my personal and professional life I have believed that our adversarial system of justice delivers just that – justice. No more. Our justice system is failing badly and needs reform,” he said.

David Spokes said all his family was asking for is the evidence to be tested in front of a jury of their peers against the standards of beyond reasonable doubt. “At the eleventh hour, those two principles seem to have been abandoned by our system of public prosecution,” he said.

“It is not the job of bureaucracy to play the role of jury and bargain away the hopes and expectations of those left behind in the aftermath of horrific crimes.”

He said police had acted with integrity and impartiality at all times, but since his granddaughter’s death, the family had learnt of other families who were also let down by decisions to throw charges out.

“Sadly, there will be more in the future as the cycle of brutalising women continues,” the grandfather said. “We call on Attorney-General Sonia Kilkenny to intervene and change the system. It’s time for the pendulum to swing back to support victims of violence.”

Bell’s close friend Isy, who asked for her surname not to be used, said she was shaking with rage that no one would ever be held to account.

“I have absolutely no words,” Isy said in a statement. “What does this say to girls, young women, all women?

“We’re just disposable. I am so heartbroken.”

Isy said she was struggling to comprehend how the case could be dropped and the impact it would have. “Her family and her community will never have closure … Darling friend Isla, you deserved justice. I’m so sorry. This should have never been the outcome.”

Anti-violence campaigner Sherele Moody, who runs Australian Femicide Watch, has been supporting Bell’s mother and hosted her to speak at a commemorative rally in 2025.

“It just feels like there’s no public accountability, and they’re not taking into consideration the need to get a legal outcome for the victims. It is not in the public interest to not go ahead,” Moody said.

“It feels like the OPP is focused on clearance rates and getting these cases through the courts as fast as possible. But if this government is serious about ending violence against women they need to take a hard look at the actions of the OPP.”

Bell was last seen leaving her Brunswick home about 6pm on October 4, 2024, but her family earlier said the last contact they were aware of was via social media on October 7.

Her family championed the search effort for the teen, set up social media pages and blanketed stretches of Melbourne with posters, and engaged huge public support.

Justine Spokes, who was in court on Tuesday, said she had complied with the prosecution’s advice not to speak publicly, even after she was advised charges might change.

“I was warned not to go to the media [to] protect the integrity of the case, which I did,” she said. She said she was “led up the garden path until the eleventh hour”.

“Consultations with victims left behind to deal with the crushing reality of life without Isla [were] merely performative,” she said.

Bell’s former boss, Tamara Griffiths, was distraught on Tuesday and could only reflect on time spent with her friend: sitting together watching monarch butterflies emerge from pupa at Griffiths’ nursery, their brilliant patterns stretched over wide wings.

Every time Griffiths sees a monarch butterfly now, she said she thinks of Bell. She saw them on Monday.

“When I saw the monarch butterflies yesterday, I just said, ‘Hello, Isla, it’s so good to see you’,” Griffiths told The Age through a smile and sobs.

“I want her remembered for who she is. Not what happened to her.”

With AAP

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