A vigil for Isla Bell drew family and supporters to the front court of the State Library in Melbourne on Saturday, days after prosecutors dropped a manslaughter charge against the man accused of killing her and withdrew all charges against another man linked to the case.

Bell, 19, disappeared in October 2024. Her body was found six weeks later in a refrigerator at a Dandenong tip, after her face had been plastered on telephone poles across Melbourne as friends and relatives searched for her. On Tuesday, prosecutors downgraded the case against Marat Ganiev, 55, from manslaughter to perverting the course of justice, while all charges against Eyal Yaffe were dropped.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Public Prosecutions said the charges were withdrawn because there was insufficient evidence. The family responded by turning the vigil into a call for change, urging the state to confront what they described as a system that has failed them.

Bell’s grandfather, David Spokes, told the crowd the family was asking Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny to intervene and lead change in the system. “The ball is in her court,” he said, adding that it was time for the pendulum to swing back toward victims of violence. He also said the family was seeking change and justice, and wanted the jury to decide.

Spokes said he felt betrayed, let down, abandoned and angry, and said the system was failing badly and needed reform. He argued that the pendulum had moved too far in favour of the accused and away from victims, leaving families without justice in Victoria.

Justice spokeswoman Justine Spokes spoke with the rawness of a mother still trying to process what had happened. She said she had told her daughter, “I promise bub, I fought hard. I fought with every breath.” She said she had expected the Tuesday outcome, but that expectation did not soften the blow.

“My mind was prepared for that outcome,” she said. “Because my expectations were low. They weren’t low enough. I couldn’t prepare my heart for that.” She also recalled the violence Bell may have endured, saying her daughter may have come home with black eyes and bruises around her neck, and described the accused as sick men who are hurting others.

The vigil came after a week in which the legal case shifted sharply. Prosecutors had initially alleged that Ganiev murdered Bell at a St Kilda East apartment before later charging him with manslaughter. Yaffe was first charged with perverting the course of justice for allegedly helping Ganiev dispose of Bell’s body before those charges, too, were abandoned on Tuesday.

Kilkenny was in the crowd at the vigil but left before it ended. Her office later said she attended to listen and pay her respects to Isla and the people who love her dearly. She also said the ongoing harm to women at the hands of men is an epidemic that can only be changed if the hard work of changing attitudes and behaviour is done.

For Bell’s family, the case is no longer only about one death. It is now also about whether the state’s response will change after a young woman vanished, was found in a refrigerator six weeks later, and left behind a family still waiting for a system they believe has failed them.